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KIPO


We therefore plan to support the examination stage by extending the outsourcing of prior art searches in fields where external resources can be utilised. Tis year we plan to increase the outsourcing by 26 percent, to 81,500 cases.”


Lee believes that the quality of South Korean patents is comparable to that of other IP offices. Although Patent Cooperation Treaty search fees increased by 80 percent in 2010, KIPO still received 13,877 requests: 96 percent of these requests came from US companies including Microsoſt, Hewlett Packard, Intel and 3M. “[Tis] is a testament to the quality of our services,” says Lee.


KIPO’s services are recognised and trusted because of the office’s flexibility in the face of evolving technologies and the increasing number of patent applications these bring, according to Lee.


He says: “Te directors of examination divisions and the chiefs of examination sections guide the examiners throughout the entire examination process. We also have examination quality assurance officers, who are responsible for evaluating the examination results and ensuring the overall quality of patent, trademark and design examinations.”


Te office has also established best practices that help tackle the difficulty of examining new and complex technologies.


Lee explains: “Te emergence of cutting-edge, fusion and complex technologies has led to the establishment of three new examination divisions. In the case of complex technologies, more than two examiners are consulted for the sake of better examinations. We also ensure that PCT applications are handled with an adequate level of expertise by entrusting them to designated examiners and task forces.”


He adds: “Special training is offered to examiners to help them better understand new, fast- changing technologies. In tailoring the training for examiners, we identify their needs and dispatch them to universities and enterprises at home and abroad, where they can keep abreast of new technologies in the fields of information, biology, nanotechnology, and so on.”


Tis work extends to international collaboration. KIPO has extended co-operation with other IP offices since 2008. It is one of the five major IP offices known as the IP5. Tis group includes the Japan Patent Office, the European Patent Office, the US Patent and Trademark Office, and the China Intellectual Property Office. Lee says: “KIPO is actively collaborating in efforts to eliminate unnecessary duplication of work among the five offices.”


www.worldipreview.com Handing it to the brands


KIPO seems to be responding to the needs of inventive businesses, but it still has some work to do if it is going to better help them to protect their brands. Tere is a backlog of trademark applications at KIPO, and Lee acknowledges that the office needs to respond to fast-changing markets and the needs of businesses if brands are going to get the protection they deserve.


“Although our examination pendency period for patents is shorter than that of other offices,” he explains, “our pendency period for trademarks last year—which was 11 months—was significantly longer than that of the US’s three months and Japan’s six months.”


He adds: “We plan to shorten the pendency period for trademarks to less than six months by 2015, though six months is not that fast in comparison with other IP offices. Shortening the pendency period when faced with an examination backlog is a difficult challenge. Nevertheless, this year we plan to recruit additional trademark examiners and improve the efficiency of our examination practices so that we can shorten the pendency period to less than 10 months.”


KIPO also intends to add anti-counterfeiting initiatives to its ever-expanding business plan. Lee says: “We plan to intensify crackdowns on counterfeit goods by utilising the special judicial police authority that was granted to our office last year. Tat way, we can raise public awareness of IPRs and bolster the level of national IPR protection.”


As intellectual property becomes more of a business than a set of laws, it seems only right that IP offices change the way they behave and operate to suit the needs of the market. South Korea’s economy has grown at a remarkable rate, but it has since slowed, like the economies of many nations. It needs a flexible IP office if it is going to exploit innovation—and this flexibility must extend to how it behaves in a wider context.


Lee says: “KIPO will hopefully play a responsible role in the [future] by sharing some of Korea’s practical wisdom and experience of utilising IP policies to achieve its rapid and phenomenal economic growth with developing and less- developed countries.


KIPO signed a memorandum of understanding with Samsung Electronics in January for the development and implementation of effective technologies for poor and developing countries. It will provide support for information searches of patent information, and Samsung will develop the technologies.


“I also hope to help create a social atmosphere that encourages the fair use of IPRs,” says Lee. “To this end, I will actively promote policies for social minority groups and the public good by extending invention education and public patent attorney services.”


Six in South Korea


Firm: Kim & Chang Head of the IP Practice: Jay Young-June Yang, senior partner Number of IP attorneys at firm: 210 Telephone: +82 2 2122-3900 Website: www.ip.kimchang.com


Firm: You Me Patent & Law Firm Heads of the IP Practice: Manho Song and Won-Ho Kim, managing partners Number of IP attorneys at firm: 51 Telephone: + 82 2 3458-0727 Website: www.youme.com


Firm: Bae, Kim & Lee IP Group Head of the IP Practice: Hoo Dong Lee, senior partner Number of IP attorneys at firm: 37 Telephone: + 82 2 2188-5454 Website: www.bkl.co.kr


Firm: Darae Law & IP Firm Head of the IP Practice: Yong-Sig Cho, managing partner Number of IP attorneys at firm: 30 Telephone: + 82 2 3475-7700 Website: www.daraelaw.co.kr


Firm: Yulchon


Head of the IP Practice: Young-Hill Liew, partner Number of IP attorneys at firm: 17 Telephone: + 82 2 528-5200 Website: www.yulchon.com


Firm: Lee & Ko


Head of the IP Practice: Jae Hoon Kim, managing partner Number of IP attorneys at firm: 30 IP litigators and 60 patent/ trademark attorneys Telephone: + 82 2 772-4000 Website: www.leeko.com


World Intellectual Property Review March/April 2011


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