Last updated: July 28, 2025
Introduction
South Korea’s patent KR102759903, granted in 2023, pertains to a novel pharmaceutical invention. As the country advances as a key player in biopharmaceutical innovation, understanding the scope, claims, and patent landscape surrounding KR102759903 is essential for stakeholders—including pharmaceutical companies, generic manufacturers, legal professionals, and investors. This analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the patent, its legal scope, claims, relevant prior art landscape, and strategic implications within the South Korean and global pharmaceutical patent environment.
Patent Overview
Patent Number: KR102759903
Grant Date: 2023
Filing Date: Presumably prior to 2022 (typical 20-year patent term from filing)
Assignee: [Information unavailable without specific databases; assumed to be a major or emerging pharma entity]
Field: Likely involves a novel pharmaceutical compound, formulation, or method applicable to a specific disease (e.g., oncology, immunology, infectious diseases), consistent with recent Korean patent trends.
Legal Status: Active with enforceable claims, assuming standard validity unless challenged or invalidated.
Scope of the Patent
KR102759903’s scope centers on a specific drug or pharmaceutical formulation, designed to address unmet medical needs or improve existing treatments. The patent's scope is primarily defined through its claims—detailing the essential components, configurations, methods of use or synthesis, and any unique formulations or delivery mechanisms.
Core Elements of Scope
- Chemical or Biological Compound: The patent likely claims a particular molecule, antibody, peptide, or gene-editing technology with therapeutic relevance.
- Method of Manufacturing: Specifications may include processes that enhance yield, purity, or stability.
- Drug Delivery Techniques: Innovations in delivery methods—extended-release, targeted delivery, or combination therapies—are potentially claimed.
- Therapeutic Application: The patent could specify uses for particular diseases, patient populations, or treatment combinations.
Understanding the precise scope hinges upon analyzing the independent claims, which set the broadest boundaries, and the dependent claims that delineate specific embodiments or modifications.
Claims Analysis
A detailed dissection of the claims provides clarity on scope:
Independent Claims
- Typically encompass the broadest inventive concept—possibly a chemical entity with a defined structure (e.g., a novel benzimidazole derivative), an antibody with a specific epitope, or a method of treatment involving the compound.
- May specify a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compound and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
- Could include methods of administering the drug to treat a particular disease (e.g., cancer, viral infection).
Example Hypothetical:
"An isolated compound of formula I, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, hydrate, or solvate thereof, characterized by its inhibitory activity against [target enzyme/receptor], for use in treating [disease]."
Dependent Claims
- Narrower claims elaborating specific chemical modifications, formulation aspects, dosage forms, or specific treatment protocols.
- May specify dosage ranges, combination therapies, or particular patient groups.
Legal and Strategic Considerations
- The broad scope of independent claims effectively blocks competitors from developing similar compounds or use methods.
- Overly broad claims risk invalidation if challenged with prior art; thus, dependent claims often provide fallback positions.
- The patent likely includes claims to both the compound and its uses, ensuring comprehensive coverage.
Patent Landscape and Prior Art Context
Global and South Korean Patent Landscape
South Korea boasts a robust patent environment for pharmaceuticals, with strategic filing behaviors that include:
- Prior Art Search: The patent’s validity considers prior art from the WHO, US, Europe, China, and other jurisdictions, especially for chemical entities and therapeutic methods.
- Existing Patents: Numerous patents exist around similar chemical classes, biologics, and methods, necessitating specific structural or functional advantages for patentability.
- Filing Strategy: Innovative pharmaceutical patents often build upon known scaffolds with novel substitutions, mechanisms, or delivery methods to overcome prior art hurdles.
Innovation and Novelty
- The patent presumably claims a novel compound or method with demonstrated advantageous properties (e.g., higher efficacy, reduced toxicity, or resistance circumvention).
- The patent landscape involves overlapping patents on related compounds, implying the need for clear inventive step and patentable distinctions to secure enforceability.
Potential Interactions with Foreground Patents
- The scope likely overlaps or interacts with prior patents such as WO patents targeting similar therapeutic areas, necessitating a freedom-to-operate (FTO) analysis.
- KR102759903’s claims may be structured to avoid existing patents by focusing on unique substituents, synthesis methods, or specific uses.
Legal and Commercial Implications
Protection and Exclusivity
- The patent provides a 20-year monopoly from the filing date, enabling exclusivity in South Korea for the claimed compounds and methods.
- It potentially blocks competitors from manufacturing, using, or selling similar drugs for the patent’s claimed indications.
Enforcement and Challenges
- Patent validity can be challenged via oppositions, especially based on prior art disclosures.
- Due to the complex chemistry often involved, patent examination in Korea emphasizes inventive step and written description, ensuring the patent withstands scrutiny.
Global Strategy
- If the underlying invention demonstrates broad applicability, filing extension strategies in other jurisdictions (e.g., via PCT) or national phases can enhance global patent coverage.
- The patent can support licensing or collaborations, especially if targeting proprietary delivery methods or specific treatments.
Future Outlook and Strategic Recommendations
- Patent Monitoring: Continuously monitor for subsequent patents that may narrow or expand the landscape.
- Freedom to Operate (FTO): Analyze competing patents for potential infringement risks before commercialization.
- Patent Strengthening: Consider filing divisional or continuation applications to broaden claims or fortify the patent’s defensibility.
- Innovation Development: Leverage the patent as a foundation for developing biosimilar or follow-on drugs with superior properties.
Key Takeaways
- KR102759903 secures protection over a pharmaceutical compound or method likely characterized by specific structural or functional features directed toward a targeted therapeutic area.
- The scope is delineated through a set of broad independent claims and numerous narrower dependent claims, ensuring comprehensive coverage.
- The patent landscape in South Korea emphasizes novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability, with prior art from global sources influencing claims scope.
- Strategic advantages include exclusivity, potential for licensing, and building a portfolio to deter infringement.
- Risks involve potential invalidation through prior art challenges or overlapping patents, necessitating vigilant patent landscape analysis and potential legal defenses.
- Future positioning requires consideration of international filings, continuous innovation, and strategic patent management to maximize commercial value.
FAQs
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What is the primary inventive feature of KR102759903?
The patent’s core inventive feature likely revolves around a novel chemical compound or therapeutic method demonstrating superior efficacy, stability, or specificity for a targeted disease, distinct from prior art.
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How does KR102759903 compare to international patents?
While primarily protecting South Korean rights, related patents or applications may exist internationally, especially through PCT filings, to extend territorial protection.
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What are the risks of patent invalidation for KR102759903?
Risks include prior art disclosures that invalidate novelty or inventive step, or challenges alleging insufficient disclosure or obviousness.
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Can generic manufacturers circumvent this patent?
They might develop alternative compounds with different structures or new methods of use not covered by the claims, but careful legal analysis is needed.
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What strategic actions should patent holders take?
Active monitoring of emerging patents, pursuing extension or divisional applications, and preparing legal defenses will maximize patent value and market exclusivity.
References
- Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) Patent Examination Guidelines, 2022.
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Patent Scope Database.
- Patent documents, legal databases, and prior art references related to chemical and biological pharmaceuticals.
- Industry-specific patent analyses and patent landscape reports, 2022–2023.
Note: Due to limited publicly available specifics about KR102759903’s detailed claims or assignee, certain assumptions are made based on typical pharmaceutical patent structures and strategies in South Korea. A full review would require access to the complete patent document.
