liminfoIP Law Reference
Free reference guide: IP Law Reference
About IP Law Reference
The IP Law Reference is a searchable cheat sheet covering major intellectual property topics: patent law (application procedures, claims drafting, PCT international filing, specification structure, infringement types, invalidation trials, and employee inventions), trademark law (registration requirements, distinctiveness levels, Madrid Protocol international filing, and similarity assessment criteria).
Copyright sections cover economic rights (reproduction, performance, distribution, derivative works), moral rights (attribution, integrity, publication), fair use factors, and duration rules. Additional entries address design protection, trade secret requirements under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, utility models, IP licensing types, and major international treaties (Paris Convention, PCT, TRIPS, Berne Convention).
Designed for patent attorneys, IP practitioners, law students, startup founders, and anyone who needs quick reference to Korean IP law concepts, patent filing procedures, trademark distinctiveness criteria, copyright limitations, open-source license obligations (MIT, GPL, Apache, AGPL), and AI-generated content IP issues.
Key Features
- Patent law covering filing procedures, claims types (independent/dependent), PCT international application, and specification structure
- Trademark registration requirements with distinctiveness spectrum from generic to coined marks, and Madrid Protocol filing
- Copyright protection including economic rights, moral rights, fair use four-factor test, and duration rules
- Trade secret protection requirements (secrecy, economic value, secret management) under Korean unfair competition law
- Design protection with registration requirements, partial/screen/typeface design types, and 20-year duration
- IP licensing types including exclusive, non-exclusive, compulsory, and cross-licenses with royalty structures
- International IP treaties reference (Paris Convention, PCT, Madrid, Hague, Berne, TRIPS) and WIPO overview
- Modern IP topics including AI-generated content issues, OSS licenses (MIT, GPL, AGPL, CC), and employee inventions
Frequently Asked Questions
What areas of intellectual property law does this reference cover?
It covers five main categories: Patent (filing, claims, PCT, infringement, invalidation, employee inventions, specification), Trademark (registration, distinctiveness, Madrid Protocol, similarity assessment), Copyright (economic rights, moral rights, fair use, duration), Design/Trade Secret (design protection, trade secrets, utility models, unfair competition), and License/Dispute (IP license types, invalidation trials, WIPO treaties, AI and IP, OSS licenses).
Does it explain the Korean patent application process?
Yes. The reference details the full Korean patent process from filing through registration: filing with KIPO, formality examination, publication at 18 months, examination request within 3 years, substantive examination, office actions, grant/refusal decision, and registration fee payment. It also covers accelerated examination and average processing times.
Is PCT international patent filing covered?
Yes. The PCT entry covers the complete procedure: international filing with the receiving office, international search by ISA, international publication at 18 months, optional international preliminary examination, and national phase entry at 30/31 months. It explains advantages including cost distribution and deferred national entry.
What trademark distinctiveness levels are explained?
The reference explains the five-level distinctiveness spectrum: generic marks (not registrable), descriptive marks (generally not registrable), suggestive marks (registrable), arbitrary marks (registrable, like Apple for electronics), and coined marks (strongest distinctiveness, like Kodak). It also covers the overall and essential feature observation methods for similarity assessment.
Does the reference cover copyright fair use?
Yes. It covers the Korean Copyright Act Article 35-5 general fair use provision with four factors: purpose/character of use, nature of the work, amount used, and market effect. It also lists specific limitations including private copying, educational purposes, news reporting, quotation, and library reproduction.
Are open source software licenses included?
Yes. The OSS license entry covers permissive licenses (MIT, Apache 2.0, BSD), copyleft licenses (GPL 2.0/3.0, LGPL, AGPL with network service disclosure requirement), and Creative Commons licenses (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC). Key obligations and differences between license types are summarized.
Does it address AI and intellectual property issues?
Yes. The AI and IP entry covers inventorship (only natural persons recognized in Korea/US/EU, the DABUS case), AI-assisted vs AI-only inventions, AI-generated works and copyright status, the trend toward denying copyright for purely AI-generated content, AI training data copyright issues, and ongoing text and data mining (TDM) exception discussions.
Is this IP law reference free to use?
Yes, it is completely free with no registration required. All content runs in your browser with no data sent to servers. It is part of liminfo.com's collection of free professional reference tools for legal practitioners and students.