KIPO
Lee says: “In the current era of open innovation, the responsibilities of an IP office need to go beyond the examination and granting of patents. One of the most important roles of an IP office is to help enterprises create IP and obtain IPRs. An office should also contribute to the development of the national economy by increasing the protection and enforcement of IPRs.”
KIPO is funded by the revenue it accrues from application and registration fees, and does not receive tax-derived funding. “Te work of an IP office is mostly handled by human resources,” Lee says. “For that reason, our personnel expenses amount to 97.2 billion won ($88 million) or 31 percent of our total budget of 363.3 billion won ($330 million).”
He says: “Te role of an IP office has been gradually expanding beyond the provision of examination services to fostering the creation of IP and supporting the acquisition of IPRs. In light of these considerations, I believe the budget needs to be boosted so that we can more effectively promote prior art searches, improve our automation system for IP administration, and foster the creation, utilisation and protection of IP.”
He adds: “We are planning to provide assistance in conducting prior art searches for national R&D projects. Te projected savings for the national R&D budget are expected to be worth about 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion). In addition, we aim to help small and medium-sized enterprises obtain patents and create excellent brands. We hope to do that by providing them with consultations on IPR management and by offering them support in the acquisition of IPRs.”
Family ties
Te South Korean government understands the importance of innovation to economic growth, according to Lee, and plans are in place to boost an economy that has enjoyed rapid growth in the past. Te Framework Act on IP is in place and ready to be enacted this year.
He says: “Since IPRs are the fruit of innovation, the Korean government believes that the timely acquisition, effective utilisation and appropriate protection of IPRs are a driving force of economic growth. Te Korean government is determined to promote pro-IP policies. To date, various government organisations have individually handled IP polices. But when the Framework Act on IP comes into effect this year, the planning and implementation of IP policies will be handled from a pan-government perspective.”
South Korea’s economy grew by 9, 7 and 4 percent in certain years during the last
decade. Lee believes that the conglomerates in South Korea, such as Samsung, had a lot to do with this.
He says: “I believe the strategic investment and continual innovation of Korean conglomerates have contributed to this miraculous growth. One Korean conglomerate, for example, has begun patent-valued management under the slogan of ‘no patent, no future’, and last year it ranked second—behind IBM—in the number of patents issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office.”
Te conglomerates understood the importance of intellectual property to their businesses as early as the 1980s. Some of them established organisations that actively promoted the acquisition of patents in South Korea and abroad. In the 2000s, they strengthened these patent organisations by appointing chief IP officers, and the conglomerates themselves led the way in IP management by increasing their international patent filings.
South Korean conglomerates owned almost 200,000 patents at the end of 2010. Tis represents around a quarter of all patents registered at KIPO.
Lee adds: “In 2010, Korean conglomerates filed 39,312 patent applications, a portion that constitutes 24 percent of the total patent applications. Foreign companies, on the other hand, filed 35,537 patent applications, or 21 percent. Tese statistics vary each year, but Korean conglomerates usually file slightly more patent applications than foreign companies.”
South Korea is keen to recreate the growth it has enjoyed over the last decade and sustain it for the long term. Exports in industries including semiconductors, wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles and computers have contributed to 43.4 percent of its GDP. South Korea’s economy relies on its position as a leading exporter among the G20 nations. “Clearly, we are committed to creating and effectively protecting patents of high added value,” says Lee.
He explains: “For more efficient R&D in the public and private sectors, we promote R&D policies based on the utilisation of patent information. We also help small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those with strong R&D capabilities but relatively weak IP management skills, to protect their R&D outcomes with patents or other types of IPRs. In addition, we provide assistance in the research of patented technology trends for government-supported R&D as a way of preventing redundancy in R&D investments.”
32 World Intellectual Property Review March/April 2011
These efforts seem to help South Korean innovation. “According to the 2008 OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators,” says Lee. “Korean residents produce 2.19 patents per million dollars of research. Tat figure is significantly higher than the corresponding figure in Japan (0.98) and the US (0.22).”
“ ONE KOREAN CONGLOMERATE, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS BEGUN PATENT- VALUED MANAGEMENT UNDER THE SLOGAN OF ‘NO PATENT, NO FUTURE’, AND LAST YEAR IT RANKED SECOND—BEHIND IBM—IN THE NUMBER OF PATENTS ISSUED BY THE US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.”
Good ship KIPO
Improving patent quality and reducing the pendency period are fundamental aims for any IP office charged with aiding economic efforts. Lee’s office is no different. “I have been endeavouring to ensure that KIPO remains competitive in terms of its examination pendency period and examination quality,” he says. “[We need to] satisfy the needs of enterprises for swiſt acquisition of strong IPRs.”
South Korean patents had a typical pendency period of 18.5 months for the first action and 24.6 months for the final action in 2010. Lee says that KIPO is aiming to shorten the first action pendency period to 12 months with the recruitment of 300 new examiners by 2015. Tis would take the number of KIPO examiners to over a thousand.
He adds: “We also plan to extend the outsourcing of prior art searches. As in other countries, there are limits on the number of government personnel.
www.worldipreview.com
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