Looking at the current global trend to go “green” or develop a more “eco-friendly” lifestyle, it has become quite clear that the world now recognizes the need to resolve or mitigate environmental impact and to conserve our natural environment and resources.
South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States of America have recently enacted measures to speed up the prosecution of patent applications on green technology. The expected outcome of this is to expedite public access to green technology and encourage additional private investment in new green technology, which can only spur green technology innovation and in turn benefit us all.
In Korea, patent applications relating to green technology will undergo a complete substantive examination process within 1 month from the date of filing, making it the fastest in the world. It is referred to as the “super speed” examination system.