– Law on Trademarks of January 1998, amended in February 1999, August 2005, March 2008, June and December 2011, February 2016, July 2020, and June 2022.
– Implementing Regulations of September 1998, amended in June 2011, April 2016, October 2020, and September 2022.

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since August 17, 1974.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since June 10, 1980.
– Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, Stockholm Act, since June 10, 1980.
– Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since October 3, 1996.
– Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of Registration of Marks, since June 6, 1997.
– Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, Stockholm Act since January 4, 2005, and Geneva Act since February 26, 2020.
– Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, since September 13, 2016.

Applicant: may be any natural or legal person.

Foreigners: may enjoy national treatment under the Paris Convention or the reciprocity principle.

Registrable: all signs capable of distinguishing the goods or services produced or provided by one enterprise from those of other enterprises, including letters, devices, numerals, symbols, colors, sounds, three-dimensional shapes or any combination of these elements

Not registrable: the following signs shall not be registered as a trademark: (1) those identical with or similar to a trademark that has been registered; (2) those that consist of a country name or relevant abbreviation, or of the form identical with or similar to the national emblem, flag, order or medal; (3) those contrary to laws, public morals or good manners and customs of the DPRK; (4) those which contain exclusive or deceptive contents related to the goods or services; (5) those which indicate solely name, composition, usage, characteristics and the like, of the goods; (6) those which may mislead the public on the origin of the goods or services; (7) those which consist exclusively of an inspection sign, a specific technical term or a common symbol; (8) those which consist exclusively of a simple number or painted by a single color; (9) those which consist exclusively of a three-dimensional shape indispensably resulting from the nature of goods or packages themselves; (10) those identical with or similar to the name, abbreviation, flag or symbol of an international organization to which the DPR Korea has acceded; (11) those including geographical names of administrative region of county level and the well-known overseas geographical name which may mislead the public on the origin of the goods or services; (12) those identical with or similar to a well-known mark; (13) those identical with or similar to an appellation of origin or a geographical indication which has been registered.

Service marks: are registrable.

Collective marks and certification marks are registrable.

Priority: according to the Paris Convention.

Classification: Nice International Classification.

Multi-class applications: possible.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney (a scanned copy is sufficient and no legalization or notarization);
2. Notarized copy of Certificate of Incorporation (a scanned copy is sufficient);
3. Electronic copy of the mark;
4. If priority is claimed: certified copy of home application (a scanned copy is sufficient);
5. List of goods and services according to the Nice International Classification.

For renewals:
1. Power of attorney (a scanned copy is sufficient and no legalization or notarization);
2. Scanned copy of Certificate of Registration.

For assignment and licensing:
1. Power of attorney, executed by the assignee (a scanned copy is sufficient and no legalization or notarization);
2. Scanned copy of Certificate of Registration;
3. Notarized copy of the assignment or licensing agreement or declaration, signed by both assignor and assignee (a scanned copy is sufficient);
4. Notarized copy of Certificate of Incorporation of the assignee.

For change of name and/or address:
1. Power of attorney (a scanned copy is sufficient and no legalization or notarization);
2. Scanned copy of Certificate of Registration;
3. Notarized Certificate of Change of Name and/or address (a scanned copy is sufficient).

Term for filing missing documents: for application of trademark registration, two months after filing date.

Electronic filing: online filing is required.

Electronic signatures: are accepted.

Examination: shall take place within six months from the filing date.

Objections of the Registrar: are notified by official letters, which must be answered within three months.

Disclaimers: available.  

Letters of consent: are accepted, must be notarized.

Appeal: may be filed against any decision of the Registrar within two months from the date of the official notification of the decision. 

Opposition to trademark application: possible within three months from the date of publication of the preliminary approval, on which the examination results shall be published.

Issuance of registration certificate: after granting, a Certificate of Registration is issued in paper format by paying the registration fee within three months from the registration date.

Use of a registered mark: compulsory (see below “Cancellation”).

Duration: the duration of the validity of a registration is ten years from the date of application for registration.

Extension: may be granted for subsequent periods of ten years upon application for renewal of validity of registration.

Term for renewal: the renewal application is accepted six months before the due date of renewal; grace period for late renewal is six months. It takes thirty to forty working days from filing renewal application to issuance of a renewal certificate.

Assignment – licensing: registrable.

Cancellation: a mark may be cancelled from the Register when: (1) the registration was effected in violation of the law; (2) the registered mark has not been used for a period of three consecutive years.