Last week, the USPTO announced that it has added the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) as the third participating foreign intellectual property office in its direct priority document exchange program. The KIPO, added as of October 14, 2008, joins the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) as current program participants. According to the USPTO announcement (link below), the addition of the KIPO to the program provides the USPTO with “the ability to begin electronically retrieving KIPO priority documents from the KIPO through the Priority Document Exchange (PDX) system,” and “[s]imilarly, the KIPO will also gain the ability to electronically retrieve U.S. priority documents from the USPTO through the PDX system.” Some noted exclusions to the program are that the USPTO cannot electronically exchange design patent applications and PCT international applications through the PDX system, and that the USPTO also cannot electronically receive non-U.S. priority application to which priority is claimed in a PCT international application. Additional details on this program are provided in the announcement below.

USPTO Announcement (PDF): LINK