Ministry of Intellectual Property expands automatic patent fee payments to six major commercial banks

[Financial News] It will soon be much easier to pay the fees required to maintain patents or trademarks. The change follows the expansion of the designated banks for automatic patent fee payments from two financial institutions to six, including the four major commercial banks.
The Ministry of Intellectual Property said on the 11th that it would expand the number of banks offering automatic payments from two (NongHyup and Industrial Bank of Korea) to six by adding four major commercial banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori and Hana), making it more convenient for customers to pay patent fees. To that end, the ministry also signed an MOU with the head of each bank.
The automatic patent fee payment service debits and pays fees automatically when customers enter their account number on submitted documents, without having to visit a bank or access the Internet Giro website. Its use has been steadily increasing, with 15% of all fee payments processed through the service last year.
With this expansion, customers will be able to conveniently pay automatically from accounts at major commercial banks not only one-time fees, such as application, examination request and registration fees, but also annual registration fees, which must be paid each year to maintain rights. Customers can apply for automatic payments and check their payment history through the integrated intellectual property portal Patent Ro. They can also earn IP Points based on how often they use the service; the points can be used like cash to pay fees in the future.
The expansion of the designated banks is expected to make a significant contribution to reducing the risk of patent rights lapsing for individual inventors and small and venture businesses. Each year, companies and individuals with many rights have lost valuable patents unintentionally after failing to keep track of payment deadlines. With more options to pay annual registration fees automatically through accounts at their primary banks, the service is expected to help prevent rights from lapsing because payment deadlines were overlooked.
Jeong Jae-hwan, director general of the Intellectual Property Information Bureau at the Ministry of Intellectual Property, said, “With the expansion of the banks offering automatic payments, people can now pay patent fees more easily through their primary banks.” He added, “We will continue to proactively improve administrative procedures to make payments more convenient for patent customers.”
[email protected] Kim Won-jun Reporter