Korean patent holders will soon be able to extend their rights to Cambodia, under a recently agreed cooperation program between the Cambodian and Korean patent offices.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding on Patent Cooperation Between the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Korean Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Korea, signed in Phnom Penh on August 16, 2019, a "Patent Recognition Program" will be implemented in Cambodia.
The MOU outlines the broad framework, with an implementing regulation expected in October and the launch of the program on November 1, 2019.
Under the program, when the Korean IP Office has accepted a claim in an application, the Cambodian patent office will recognize the examination result and grant a patent for the claim expeditiously.
The Cambodian patent application will have the same earliest date as the Korean patent, through the Paris Convention and/or the Patent Cooperation Treaty. The applicant for the Cambodian patent will need to request acceleration under the Patent Recognition Program by submitting:
A request form
A certified copy of the patent gazette enclosed in the corresponding KIPO application
English and Khmer translation of claims and specification published in the gazette.
Claims correspondence table
As agreed under the MOU, the Cambodian patent office is to issue its decision within three months of the request date.
This MOU follows on similar patent recognition programs established in the past years with China, Japan, Singapore and Europe.
For more about patents in Cambodia, please refer to our Guide to Patent Law in Cambodia