1. KIPO, the Patent Court of Korea (PCK) and the United States Supreme Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) jointly held a first ‘2013 Korea-US Judicial Conference’
This conference consisted of a meeting with the Commissioners of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a Korea-US judiciary meeting, an IP-related mock trial, a subcommittee seminar attended by Korea-US experts, etc.
The conference was attended by the chief executives in the IP field, Mr. Young-Min KIM (Commissioner of KIPO), Mr. Sam-Bong PARK (Chief Judge of PCK), Mr. Randall R. Rader (Chief Judge of CAFC) and Ms. Teresa S. Rea (acting commissioner of USPTO), and about 750 people including judges, government officials, judicial officials, etc.
The Commissioner of KIPO especially presented strong patent creating policies through the examination reorganization according to technological convergence/complex, the positive examination system construction, the shortening of examination/trial processing periods, and the expansion of patent information disclosure, etc.
2. The IP cooperation between Korea and China expands to Chinese provincial governments!
- KIPO concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the IP cooperation with Kwangtung province
In the case where an IP right (such as a patent, design, trademark, etc.) of a Korean company advanced in Kwangtung province is infringed, it should be much easier to protect the right in the future because KIPO and the Kwangtung provincial government have built the communication and cooperation system to protect of a company’s IP right.
In a Korea-Kwangtung province development forum held in Seoul, KIPO concluded the MOU for the exchange, cooperation and protection between Korea-Kwangtung province with the Minister KIPO Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy and the head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Kwangtung province.
This MOU includes the cooperative matters in various fields, such as IP transaction and commercialization promotion, academic exchange, personal exchange, etc. as well as the IP protection of a company.
3. The Korean KIPOnet goes to the African Continent
The KIPOnet, a Korean patent information system, is going to fully advance to the African Continent.
KIPO and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA: President: Mr. Young-Mok KIM) announced that they had held a briefing session for the modernization of patent information systems of an Africa Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) on October 7, 2013 (Monday, local time) in Harare the capital of Zimbabwe.
ARIPO is an organization for the cooperation of English-speaking African countries. The eighteen (18) countries including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, etc. of a total fifty-four (54) countries, have joined as the members of ARIPO.
This launch briefing session was attended by the Director General (Mr. Femando dos SANTOS) of ARIPO, the Minister of the Zimbabwe Industry and Commerce, the Commissioner (Mr. Fidelis Maredza) of Zimbabwe Intellectual Property Office, to reflect the English-speaking African countries’ high expectation and interest in the KIPOnet.
4. The number of trademark applications has rapidly increased by the coffee craze!
- The number of the trademark applications related to coffee, such as coffee bars, etc., has explosively increased
To show the coffee craze having swept Korea for the last few years, the number of trademark applications related to coffee, such as many coffee products and coffee houses, etc., has explosively increased.
According to KIPO, the number of the coffee-related trademark applications was about 200~300 before 2008 but it was about 1,100 in 2012 and about 600 as of the end of June, 2013, showing a sharp increase during the last 4~5 years.
Such a rapid increase in the number of the coffee-related trademark applications is considered as being greatly influenced by the coffee boom which has started in Korea during he same period. Specifically, a main cause is considered as being in that the number of the applications filed by individuals as well as the existing major companies producing and supplying processed coffee has greatly increased.
A detailed current status of the trademark applications is as follows: 4,096 trademark applications (63.5%) of 6,444 applications were filed by Korean individuals, 1,645 applications (25.6%) were filed by Korean companies, 630 applications (9.8%) were filed by foreign companies, 73 applications (1.1%) were filed by foreign individuals, showing that the Korean individuals filed the most trademark applications.
|
