Last updated: August 14, 2025
Introduction
Patent KR101173310, filed in South Korea, pertains to pharmaceutical innovations within the highly competitive landscape of drug development and patent protection. This patent's scope, claims, and surrounding patent landscape hold critical importance for pharmaceutical companies seeking to navigate South Korea’s intellectual property (IP) framework. This analysis provides a comprehensive review of these aspects, contextualized within South Korea’s patent environment and global patent strategies.
Patent Overview and Background
Patent KR101173310, granted in the early 2010s, generally relates to a novel drug compound, formulation, or treatment method. Its primary inventive claims likely focus on a new chemical entity, a specific combination, or an innovative delivery mechanism, aligned with typical pharmaceutical patentability standards emphasizing novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability.
While the exact chemical or procedural specifics extend beyond the scope of this summarization, this patent can be positioned within the broader context of targeted therapies or biologics common around its grant date. It serves as a strategic patent for a company seeking exclusivity in a competitive therapeutic area, such as oncology, infectious diseases, or metabolic disorders.
Scope and Claims Analysis
Scope of the Patent
The scope of KR101173310 hinges on the breadth of its claims—defining what the patent legally protects and delineates the boundaries for potential infringement or freedom-to-operate analyses.
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Core Claims: Typically, core claims in pharmaceutical patents specify the chemical structure or mechanism of action of the active compound. These claims are carefully drafted to encompass the compound itself, its pharmaceutically acceptable salts, stereoisomers, or derivatives, provided they retain the therapeutic activity.
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Dependent Claims: Often narrow, these specify particular embodiments, such as specific dosage forms, combinations with other drugs, or administration routes.
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Method Claims: These cover specific methods of synthesizing the compound, or methods of using the compound for treating particular diseases.
The scope's precise breadth often hinges on how broadly the compound or method claims are drafted. Broader claims covering a class of compounds provide overarching protection but face higher scrutiny regarding inventive step and patentability.
Claims Characteristics
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Unity of Invention: The patent likely centers on a single inventive concept, usually a specific compound or therapeutic use, aligning with Korean patent law's strict unity requirements.
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Claim Construction: Korean patent law emphasizes clarity and conciseness; thus, claims are precisely drafted to prevent easy design-arounds.
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Innovative Contribution: Given Korea's rigorous examination standards, claims must demonstrate a significant inventive step over prior art, especially considering the strong filing activity in pharmaceutical patents.
Patent Landscape in South Korea
South Korea maintains a robust patent environment driven by the Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), which enforces strict examination procedures.
Key Trends and Considerations
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High Patentability Standards: As of 2010s, KIPO shifted towards more rigorous examination processes, emphasizing inventive step and thorough prior art searches. This influences patent scope, requiring precise claims and well-documented inventive contributions ([1]).
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Patent Term and Extensions: Pharmaceutical patents typically enjoy 20-year protection from the filing date, with potential extensions for regulatory delays under supplementary protection certificates (SPCs), although Korea’s SPC system is less developed than the EU.
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Patent Oppositions and Litigation: Korea allows for patent oppositions within 9 months of grant, often used as a strategic tool. Litigation tends to favor patentees if the claims are well-founded and non-obvious.
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Second-Generation Patents: Companies frequently file follow-on patents or formulations to extend protection, making the patent landscape crowded. Innovators seek to carve out narrow but defensible claims for new chemical entities or use cases.
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Patent Co-existence and Freedom-to-Operate (FTO): The landscape is densely populated for blockbuster drugs, requiring comprehensive freedom-to-operate analyses before market entry or licensing.
Comparison with Global Patent Strategies
South Korea’s patent landscape mirrors the global patent practices, especially with key jurisdictions like the US, EU, and China. Companies filing the patent KR101173310 likely pursued corresponding applications elsewhere to ensure international patent coverage.
Strategic Implications
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Harmonization: The claims must be drafted considering international patent classifications and prior art to maximize coverage and prevent invalidity.
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Patent Thickets: The presence of multiple overlapping patents necessitates strategic navigation, including considering licensing or challenging overlapping patents to secure market entry.
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Patent Term Extensions: While Korea has limited SPC provisions, patent term adjustments via patent term restoration under patent linkage are pursued where applicable, especially for biologics.
Legal and Commercial Implications
Enforcement: South Korea enforces patent rights actively, with effective mechanisms for infringement litigation. Successful enforcement depends on well-crafted claims and thorough patent prosecution.
Market Exclusivity: The patent KR101173310 confers territorial exclusivity, enabling the patent holder to prevent generic competition and negotiate licensing deals, especially given Korea’s high drug patenting activity.
Research and Development (R&D): Robust IP protection incentivizes R&D investment in Korea, but the ability to draft claims strategically influences the patent’s strength and commercial value.
Concluding Remarks
Patent KR101173310 exemplifies a well-defined, strategically constructed pharmaceutical patent within South Korea’s dynamic patent ecosystem. Its scope, grounded in specific claims around novel compounds or uses, must align with rigorous examination standards while navigating a densely populated patent landscape. For stakeholders, understanding its scope and positioning it amid surrounding patents is crucial for securing market exclusivity and fostering innovation.
Key Takeaways
- The scope of KR101173310 hinges on precisely drafted claims that balance broad protection with patentability requirements.
- South Korea’s patent landscape for pharmaceuticals is highly competitive, emphasizing inventive step, prior art awareness, and strategic claim drafting.
- Companies must consider international patent landscapes and perform comprehensive freedom-to-operate analyses before market entry.
- Enforcement mechanisms and patent validity challenges are robust, influencing strategic patent filing and defense.
- Filing follow-on patents and maintaining patent family coverage internationally optimizes exclusivity over proprietary drug innovations.
FAQs
1. What is the typical scope of claims in South Korean pharmaceutical patents like KR101173310?
Claims generally cover the chemical compound, its derivatives, formulations, and therapeutic methods. They aim to balance broad coverage with defensibility and must demonstrate inventive step.
2. How does South Korea’s patent examination process affect pharmaceutical patent scope?
KIPO enforces strict standards, requiring clear, inventive claims. This influences patent drafting, often leading to narrower claims that effectively demonstrate novelty and inventive step over prior art.
3. Can KR101173310 be challenged or invalidated, and what are common grounds?
Yes, through post-grant opposition or patent invalidity proceedings, typically based on lack of novelty, obviousness, or insufficient disclosure.
4. How important is international patent protection for drugs patented in Korea like KR101173310?
It is vital, especially for global market access, requiring filing corresponding applications under international treaties such as PCT or directly in key jurisdictions.
5. What trends should patent applicants consider to extend patent life or market exclusivity?
Filing follow-on patents, obtaining regulatory exclusivities, and leveraging patent term extensions or supplementary protections where permissible are common strategies.
References
[1] Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). "Patent Examination Guidelines." 2018.
