1. The Republic of Korea proposed the top world IP countries discuss a general solution of a patent dispute
- Effort to solve a gap in the intellectual property (IP) rights between an advanced country and a developing country is urged
The 50th WIPO General Assembly was held on October 1, 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr. Ho-Won Kim, the Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), who attended the General Assembly met the General Secretary of WIPO, the commissioners of the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), Japanese Patent Office (JPO), the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of the People’s Republic of China and European Patent Office, raising the necessity of jointly coping with the recently rapidly increasing international patent disputes and, specifically, requesting the WIPO that has operated an arbitration and mediation center to play a role in solving international IP disputes.
As shown in the trial of Samsung-Apple and the trial of Kolon, the recent patent disputes have been raised in every corner of the world. The costs according to the trials have been highly burdensome to the companies. Under the circumstances, Mr. Kim proposed a new approach in the international IP field: ‘international cooperation to reduce the possibility of generating an unnecessary patent dispute and to save costs required in solving the dispute’.
In a keynote address on the first day (October 1, 2012) of the General Assembly), Mr. Kim also urged an effort in solving the IP gap between advanced countries and developing countries of WIPO, for a sustainable development of the world IP system.
Mr. Kim emphasized the necessity that advanced countries and WIPO should positively start in the IP development of developing countries for the sustainable development of the IP system and the developing countries could also reap IP benefits.
2. The officials cracking down imitations in the Chinese continent experienced the “IP Korean wave”
- KIPO and KOTRA jointly invited the officials in charge of the Chinese IP rights to the Republic of Korea, for on-the-IP spot training
For the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Korea-China diplomatic relations, KIPO and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) jointly invited 28 officials in charge of IP protection services in the central and provincial governments of China to the Republic of Korea, for the IP training.
The attendees for training held from October 15 to 18, 2012 included the officials, judges and professors handling the IP-related services in each of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) (for patents, designs) and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) (for trademarks) of the People’s Republic of China, both in charge of the Chinese governmental IP rights, courts, customs, universities, institutes, etc.
Through this event, KIPO and KOTRA plan to positively support in building a friendly cooperation channel between the officials in charge of the Chinese IP rights and those in charge of Korean companies’ IP rights, for a prompt and smooth process when a Korean company’s IP right is infringed in China.
3. Survival strategy in a global IP battle were presented
- KIPO held a 2012 IP Protection Conference
KIPO and the Presidential Council on Intellectual Property (PCIP) jointly held a ‘2012 IP Protection Conference’ in the Seoul Ritz-Carlton, on the subject, ‘Counterstrategies to protect Korean companies’ IP rights, such as responses to international patent disputes and management plans for business secrets’.
These days, the area of international IP disputes is not only US but it is expected to expand to Europe and China. Technology is also expected to expand from the IT field to the other fields including pharmaceuticals, vehicles, etc. In these situations, the Conference was prepared to present the IP protection strategies of a company regarding its industrial property rights, such as patents, and business secrets.
Mr. Jong-Yong YOON, the Chairman of PCIP, and Mr. Ho-Won Kim, the Commissioner of KIPO, planned to attend the Conference. In the morning, Mr. Sean P. Murphy, a Vice-President of Qualcomm, US, planned to deliver the keynote address regarding ‘Innovation & Patent Strategy in the Global Company’ and Prof. Sang-Jo Jong of Seoul National University planed to deliver the keynote address on the subject, ‘View and Study on IP Battle of Multi-Convergence Era’.
In the afternoon, a session of IP dispute and a session of business secret protection would be separated from each other and detailed lectures would be conducted regarding each subject.
4. KIPO provides IP services, visiting small and medium companies
- KIPO held a forum regarding patent creation strategies, patent dispute counterstrategies, patent application filing procedures and examination procedures, etc.
In a conference room of the Chungnam Northern CCI (Chamber of Commerce & Industry) located Buldang-dong, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, the Republic of Korea, KIPO held a forum on the matters including patent creation strategies, patent dispute counterstrategies, IP center’s major support programs, patent application filing and examination procedures, and main patent statistics in the semiconductor field.
As trade, through the overseas facilities and branch offices as well as the direct exportation to all countries of the world including US, Europe, China, etc., has been more and more active, patent disputes have increased everyday.
In this forum, the presentation focused on (1) the counterstrategies to prevent patent disputes by building a patent portfolio taking a trend-analysis on a particular technology and a forecast of future technology and market into consideration, and (2) patent application filing procedures and patent examination procedures.
Accordingly, this opportunity is expected to be valuable to a company at present positively seeking intellectual property management to minimize its loss and damage and to prevent a patent dispute, by strengthening its reaction capability upon a patent dispute at home or abroad.
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