1. We would like to inform you that we have added two patent attorneys as partners of our firm. The two patent attorneys are
1) ChoongHan LEE who practiced for eighteen (18) years as a patent examiner in the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), specializing in the field of machinery and metals.
- graduated in Agricultural Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University
- passed the civil service examination in 1993
- practiced as a patent examiner of the General Machinery Examination Department in KIPO
- practiced as a patent examiner of the Automobile Examination Department in KIPO
- practiced as a patent examiner of the Precision Machinery Examination Department in KIPO
- practiced as a patent examiner of the Measurement and Analysis Technology Examination Department in KIPO
- retired from KIPO in October 2013
- served in KIM, HONG & ASSOCIATES since March 2014
2) TaeSoo KIM with the seventeen (17) years experience, specializing in the field of electric, electronic and communications.
- graduated in Electronic Engineering Department of Korea University
- pass the Patent Attorney Examination in 1997
- graduated in Law of Korea University
- practiced the intellectual property services for semiconductor equipment companies in Nam and Nam
- served in Park, Kim & Partner
2. The Republic of Korea achieved 5th in world ranking of the number of the international patent applications
- The number of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) international patent applications filed by the Korean applicants in 2013 increased 4.5%, compared with the previous year
Last weekend, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an UN-affiliated organization, published a ‘provisional statistical data of applications filed in 2013’. According to the provisional statistical data, the number of the PCT international patent applications filed by the Korean applicants was12,386 (holding 6.0% of the total of 205,300) to be 5th in world ranking.
The 1st rank was given to the US filing 57,239 (27.9%). The US kept the unmovable 1st by recovering the number of the applications to more than 54,046 which was the number before the 2007 financial crisis. The 2nd rank was given to Japan filing 43,918 (21.4%) which stopped at the same level as the previous year. China which had been previously 4th increased the number of the applications, 21,516) by 15.6%, climbing one step to 3rd, passing Germany.
In addition, the total number of the applications through the world for the first time passed over 200,000 due to the rapid increase of the applications filed by the US, China and Republic of Korea.
Among the Korean companies, Samsung Electronics increased the number of the PCT international patent applications to 1,193 from 733 in the previous year, increasing by 460 cases. This is considered to be influenced by the strengthening of the international patent applications of major countries as well as the US markets according to global patent dispute possibility. LG Electronics with 1,170 applications was 15th and LG Chemical with 449 was 34th.
3. Korean trademark information goes to the world over the Europe
- The European trademark search service (TMview) starts the Korean trademark information service
The international awareness of the Korean trademarks will be greatly improved so that the range of trademark use is expected to more expand.
According to KIPO, TMview (www.tmview.eu), the biggest trademark search service in the world, has started the Korean trademark information service.
This has carried forward since KIPO concluded a MOU to exchange trademark information with the European Trademark & Design Office in September of last year. Accordingly, as a first Asian country, the Korean trademark information service has been provided in TMview.
Further, since foreign companies’ approach to the Korean trademark information has become easier through TMview, this service is expected to greatly contribute to their advance in Korean markets.
4. Future patent direction is found in patent big-data
- Promising technologies and R&D strategies are presented through a ‘patent blueprint’
KIPO announced that it would forward a ‘national patent strategy blueprint building project’ (hereinafter, referred to as the ‘blueprint project’) to find the future promising technologies in the five (5) industrial fields (agriculture, forestry and fishery foods, components, LED/optics, new renewable energy, and sea/air transportation), to create original/core patents through a large-scaled patent analysis.
The blueprint project is carried forward by building an objective technical system in the view of a patent by each industry, finding a future promising technology candidate through the large-scaled patent analysis, selecting the ten(10) promising technologies to create the original/core patents and establishing the R&D strategies to be provided to companies and government departments.
A meeting to inform the beginning of the project was held on March 25, 2014, to carry forward the five (5) industrial fields of agriculture, forestry and fishery foods, new renewable energy, sea and air transportation, LED/optics, and components.
About seventy (70) people attended this meeting, including the national R&D planning experts of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the examiners of KIPO, and the industry-university-institute technical experts representing each industrial field. They fully started discussing details on the direction to carry forward the project and building the blueprint of this year.
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