Patent Examination for Youth Startups Handled in Just One Month – South Korea’s MOIP
14-Oct-2026
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Source : The South Korea’s Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP)
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Visits : 84
- MOIP to expand eligibility for super-accelerated examination to youth startups and technologies related to AI data centers and physical AI.
- SMEs account for 6 out of 10 applications for super-accelerated examination.
- Super-accelerated examination reduces first office action pendency to one month or less, compared with an average of 20 months under regular examination.
# Company A, an AI startup developing industrial physical AI robots primarily used in shipyards, requested super-accelerated examination for six patent applications and received its first office action in just 17 days. This enabled the company to assess its patent protection strategy for core technologies at an early stage, giving it a head start in the rapidly growing robotics market.
# Company B, a biotechnology and medical AI venture company developing AI-based digital pathology and cancer diagnosis technologies that analyzes images of cancer tissue to assist diagnosis, requested super-accelerated examination for 14 patent applications and received its first office action in just 27 days. This helped the company accelerate its preparations for market entry.
Starting this November 2026, first office action pendency for patent applications filed by youth startups and applications involving technologies related to AI data centers and physical AI is expected to be reduced to one month or less.
DAEJEON - South Korea's Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP), led by Minister KIM Yong Sun, announced that it plans to expand its eligibility for its super-accelerated patent examination track to youth startups and technologies related to AI data centers and physical AI. Under the expanded system, eligible applicants are expected to receive their first office actions within one month, according to the official website of Ministry.
Since the introduction of super-accelerated examination for AI and biotechnology startups in February 2026, the average waiting period for patent examination in these fields has fallen to 1.0 month. This represents a significant reduction compared to the nearly 20 months required under regular examination. Building on these results, MOIP plans to further expand the system to support young startups and emerging technologies, including physical AI.
< Super-Accelerated Examination to Expand to Youth Startups, AI Data Centers, and Physical AI >
MOIP plans to expand eligibility for super-accelerated examination beyond specific technology fields to encompass youth startups regardless of field. This measure aims to support youth startups across diverse sectors—even those operating outside the AI and biotechnology sectors—to benefit from faster patent examination.
Support for nationally strategic technologies will also be strengthened. In addition to the semiconductor sector already covered by the system, technologies related to AI data centers and physical AI will be newly included among those eligible for accelerated and super-accelerated examination. This expansion is intended to help secure patent rights more quickly for key technologies that will drive the competitiveness of future industries.
To minimize any potential impact on regular patent examination, MOIP plans to limit the number of applications eligible for super-accelerated examination to approximately 4,000 per year. Further details, including specific eligibility criteria and application requirements, will be announced in November.
< SMEs Account for 6 out of 10 or 60% of Super-Accelerated Examination Applications >
MOIP first introduced the super-accelerated examination system in October 2025 and expanded it to AI and biotechnology startups and venture companies in February 2026. A total of 1,284 applications were filed under the system between October 2025 and August 2026. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accounted for the largest share, with 774 applications (60%). Large enterprises followed with 260 applications (20%), while individual applicants accounted for 189 applications (14.7%).
AI and biotechnology are among the technology fields with the longest delays to patent examination pendency. While the average waiting period across all technology fields was 14.7 months in 2025, the corresponding figure for AI and biotechnology had reached approximately 20 months.
As mentioned in the cases above, the introduction of the super-accelerated examination track allowed Company A, a startup company specializing in physical AI, to receive its first office action in just 17 days, and Company B, a venture company specializing in AI-based medical technologies, to receive their first office action in 27 days, both within one month. As such, super-accelerated examination aims to enable companies to assess the patentability of their inventions at an early stage and develop commercialization strategies more quickly.
MOIP Vice Minister Jung Yeon Woo stated, “For startups, patents are more than just legal rights. They are valuable assets that help attract investment, enter markets and drive business growth. The super-accelerated examination system for AI and biotechnology startups has delivered significant results in dramatically shortening patent examination waiting periods.”
He further emphasized, "Moving forward, we will continue to expand support to youth startups and core national technologies, actively providing assistance so that innovative ideas can quickly secure patent protection and be translated into commercialization."