Our firm has been a vocal proponent for allowing electronic signatures and online notarizations at the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, KIPO has finally agreed to allow both e-signatures and online notarizations.

Effective immediately, patentees and applicants will be able to use various forms of e-signatures. Examples of the two main types of e-signatures are shown below:

When documents requiring signatures (and notarization) are submitted to KIPO in English (e.g., deed of assignment forms, power of attorney forms, etc.), we must also submit a Korean translation. Under the new rules, when the Korean translation is submitted along with the executed (and notarized) English document, depending on the type of e-signature, the following additional requirements must be observed:

For Type I (where the appearance of the e-signature is a conventional type of signature), the Korean translation must contain a statement by Korean counsel that the document was electronically signed by the authorized party (and the notary).

For Type II (where the appearance of the e-signature is not a conventional type of signature but consists of character, membership ID, symbol, etc.), in addition to the same requirement as Type I, the Korean translation must also contain a captured image of the signature properties (the signer's certificate) validating the e-signature.