The South Korean patent law has been amended with effect from July 1, 1997 to replace the present pre-grant opposition system with a post-grant opposition system. Under the new law, once a patent application has been accepted, grant will follow automatically. Publication will occur at grant and the granted patent will be subject to possible opposition for a period of three months after grant has occurred. As under the previous law, a patent is also subject to the possibility of an invalidation action at any time during its life.