1. 2025 KIPO’s major business implementation plan
- IP trend in-depth analysis of 200 advanced technology R&D tasks is to be newly conducted…to strengthen the R&D guiding role.
- IP examination package support system in all advanced industrial fields (semiconductor, secondary battery, bio) is to be complete…to secure rights quickly,
- The risk of technology leaking overseas is to be detected in advance and technical advice is to be provided to investigative agencies…to establish government-wide economic security.
- IP finance is to be expanded (from 10 trillion Korea won in 2024 to 12 trillion Korea won) …to provide liquidity for innovative companies.
- Pre-analysis of the IP dispute risk of companies in the early stages of exporting is to be newly conducted…to support the leap forward of global companies.
IP trend in-depth analysis of 200 advanced technology research and development (R&D) tasks is to be newly conducted by using IP bigdata of about 6 million cases worldwide. In addition, IP finance scale is to be expanded to 12 trillion Korea won to support the commercialization of startups and small and medium companies, and pre-analysis of dispute risk of 100 companies in the early stages of exporting is to be newly conducted.
On January 21, 2025 KIPO published the ‘2025 major businesses implementation plan’.
In 2024, even in difficult financial conditions, about 246,000 Korean patent applications were filed to record the highest score (246,245) and the IP financial scale exceeded 10 trillion Korea won (as of August 2024). These meaningful indicators show that Korean economy’s potential has been maintained even amidst the crisis. In order to fully utilize this high IP capability, KIPO aimed to ① secure technological sovereignty in future high-tech industries, ② promote sustainable growth of innovative companies, and ③ activate entry into the global market and exports and it presented 3 major implementation strategies and 10 key tasks.
[1. Strengthening technological competitiveness by using IP]
First, technological competitiveness is to be increased by using IP bigdata and strengthening examination and trial capabilities, to secure technological sovereignty in future high-tech industries.
Continuous technological innovation and economic security are to be supported based on IP bigdata. IP trend in-depth analysis of R&D tasks in 200 advanced technology fields is to be newly conducted by using IP bigdata including about 6 million cases, which is a collection of cutting-edge technology information. In addition, a global inventor map is built by using inventor information, etc. in the quantum technology and AI fields, strengthening a role as a guide to establish national research and development strategies.
In terms of economic security, a risk area of technology being leaked overseas is to be detected in advance, and technical advice based on KIPO’s expertise is to be availbled to other investigative agencies including the police, etc. Further, platform construction to analyze IP data in conjunction with data from other fields, such as industry, etc. will begin fully, to upgrade the IP bigdata utilization infrastructure in overall national affairs.
Measures to improve examination and trial services that the public can feel are also to be promoted. In the examination field, in February, subjects for preferential examination are to be designated and expanded in the bio, AI and hi-tech robot fields and the carbon neutral field, and 60 private experts are to be hired as patent examiners, to complete the IP examination package support system across the entire high-tech industry.
[2. Enhancing the growth ecosystem of IP-based company]
Second, a foundation for growth that encompasses all aspects of IP utilization and protection is to be created for innovative companies to achieve scale-up using the secured technology as a driving force.
Achieving IP financial scale of 12 trillion Korea won is to be pushed, so that startups and small and medium companies are able to take a leap based on their IPs. To this end, KIPO will create a deep tech joint fund of 100 billion Korea won with Financial Services Commission and it also plans to actively cooperate with local governments.
Contributions to a recovery support organization, which serves as a safety device for a loan with IP as collateral, are to be expanded to provide incentives to a bank to lend IP collateral loan, to support a financial institution to serve as priming water for innovation.
IP protection will be more strengthened by eradicating the distribution of counterfeit products and establishing a fair compensation system. Responding to the diversification of counterfeit product distribution channels, such as SNS and overseas direct purchase, etc., constant online monitoring of counterfeit products utilizing AI technology will be fully introduced in March. Habitual and large-scale distribution activities which were caught as a result of monitoring will be linked to planning investigation of the trademark special judicial police, and a cooperative system with major online platforms will be established.
[3. Enhancing export vitality through IP]
Third, export business strategies for responding to a dispute are to be promoted for a company with excellent IP, thereby actively supporting its overseas expansion.
Customized support for each company situation, such as IP utilizing strategy consulting, etc., is provided to promote overseas expansion of companies with excellent IPs. At the same time, the threshold for IP collateral loans for export companies is to be lowered and IP valuation costs are to be supported.
Overseas IP dispute risks of 100 companies in the early stages of exporting are to be analyzed in advance and the risk resolution strategies are to be newly supported. In addition, for companies promoting overseas patent transactions regarding advanced technologies, verification and advice will be also provided in conjunction with private professional organizations.
2. South Korea launched the National Bio Committee (January 23, 2025).
South Korea held an inauguration ceremony of the National Bio Committee and held the 1st meeting.
The National Bio Committee appointed 24 experts as civilian members including KAIST professor Lee Sang-yeop, who was appointed as vice chairman, and composed of 12 ex officio government members including the ministers of bio-related ministries, senior presidential secretary for science and technology (member of the executive secretary), and the third deputy director of the national security office, etc.
In the 1st meeting, vice chairman Lee Sang-yeop first presented ‘vision and mission of the National Bio Committee’. After that, Ko Han-seung, chairman of Samsung Electronics’ Future Business Planning Team, Yoo Sang-im, minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT (hereinafter, referred to as ‘MSIT”), Ahn Deok-geun, minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (hereinafter, referred to as “MTIE), Cho Kyu-hong, minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (hereinafter, referred to as ‘MHW), presented the ‘Korea bio-great transformation strategy’ (in collaboration with related ministers). Finally, Lee min-chang, civilian committee member of the Regulatory Reform Committee under the president, presented the ‘current regulation situation and direction of maintenance in the bio field’.
The key points of the ’Korea bio-great transformation strategy’ prepared jointly by all ministries are as follows:
Bio is a technology field that has important strategic values in many fields, such as economy, society, security, etc. Especially, in economy, as a key driver of global economic growth, the bio global market of about 3.3 trillion dollars in 2027 is expected to grow. In society, bio is the key for maintaining a healthy life and solving food shortages, and regarding security, through the pandemic period, the bio manufacturing technology has been also highlighted as a key element of national security. In this regard, the core tasks in terms of infrastructure, R&D innovation and industry have been driven for the Korea bio-great transformation strategy.
Infrastructure Transformation
Bio cluster of coexistence Institutional and foundational innovation that overcomes barriers Securing skilled talents rooted in the field
to build Korea-style bio cluster (~’30),
to achieve 10,000 new jobs (~‘30) to establish regulatory governance,
to establish national bio security strategy to carry forward training of 110,000 skilled people in bio health (∼‘27),
to run a specialized graduated school by field
Korea government builds a ‘Korea-style bio cluster for Bio is a technology’ for full cycle innovation in the bio field.
The government plans to promote convergence among various fields, such as red, green, white, blue bios, by linking high-tech medical complexes, special R&D zones and industrial complexes, etc. across the country and to create an ecosystem connecting from R&D to commercialization by attracting key institutions (universities, research centers, companies, hospitals). The government will also form a ‘bio cluster consultative group’ under the National Bio Committee, jointly utilize equipment, expert and startup support programs by region through a ‘virtual platform’ connecting about 20 clusters, and expand exchanges with leading overseas clusters.
The government will train 110,000 skilled people in the bio health field by 2027 and expand multidisciplinary and practical educations to resolve mismatches in industrial settings. ‘Bio-skilled people training strategies’ by green and white bio fields are to be prepared, and field-friendly skilled talents are to be intensively nurtured through new technology training, etc. for specialized graduated schools and employees. Professional education by fields, such as new AI-driven drug development, etc., is to be activated to produce excellent human resources that can be utilized immediately, and key skilled people are to be intensively nurtured through a physician-scientist (MD-Ph.D) training program, etc. Programs to attract overseas scholars, to send Korean researchers overseas and to train skilled people are to be expanded to strengthen global competitiveness.
R&D Innovation Transformation
Bio+X technological convergence Data-based R&D innovation R&D promotion system innovation
to reduce new drug development period and cost ½ (13.7 years → about 6year, 2 trillion Korea won → 1 trillion Korea won),
to expand to food, materials, environment, marine and space to secure data of 10 million cases (~’35),
to simplify IRB, DRB deliberation procedures
to reduce the biotechnology gap
※ life and health 85%,
agriculture and forestry
90%(~’35),
to establish a one-team collaboration system
Bio technology is to be spread to various industries to establish technological sovereignty by accelerating innovation, shifting data-based R&D paradigm and improving R&D investment constitution.
First of all, innovation is to be accelerated by converging bio technology and the other field technologies. The AI-based technology is to reduce time, cost, etc. to about half compared to before, to establish public bio foundry and to promote expansion by field. Industrial ripple effects are to be maximized not only to the existing pharmaceutical and medical device fields but also to the various fields, such as food, materials, environment, etc., thereby developing new variety and high value-added food ingredients and developing eco-friendly technology, to contribute to the circular economy. In addition, it dares to challenge in developing a personalized medicine and overcoming incurable disease and aging, etc.
Based on data, the bio R&D paradigm is to be changed. The bio data collaboration system centered around the National Bio Committee is to be reorganized to strengthen data linkage. On a trial basis, a comprehensive opening of data among 15 public research institutes in the bio field is to be promoted and to be expanded to the entire public sector in the future. Specifically, data of 10,000,000 cases are to be secured in the national bio data platform by 2035. A bio-specific high-performance computing infrastructure (3,000+ GPUs) is to increase to support a high-volume data analysis. The dual institution-specific deliberation procedures (institutional review board, institutional healthcare data review committee, etc.) are to be simplified, and incentives are to be provided for activation of data deposit.
Industry Transformation
Commercialization of bio technology Promotion of company growth Leap into a bigger market
to expand manufacturing accessibility of 5 public CDMO-focused biotech,
to promote K-BioMADE (‘27) to raise mega fund,
to support the expansion of policy finance and trade insurance,
to expand to a national strategical technology field
CDMO production and sales ranking 1st in the world,
to secure 30% of the bio aviation fuel export market (‘30)
to secure the localization rate, 15%, of the bio materials, parts and equipment (’30)
Radical innovation of productization and manufacturing of a bio company is to be supported. Bio industry is to be developed as Korea’s representative growth engine following the semiconductor industry, by promoting company growth, leading the CDMO bio pharmaceutical market and securing new markets, etc., productization, such as cell line manufacturing, sample and finished product production, etc. is supported by using 5 public CDMO which were previously established. In addition, for research and manufacturing innovation in the entire bio field, an AI-based public bio foundry is built and a K-bioMADE project (named tentatively) is carried forward to support the full cycle of bio manufacturing. Through these, the automation, speeding up and standardization of candidate material deriving and manufacturing process development are promoted. In addition, for performance verification of a biotech product, the advancement of Korean clinical trials and the strengthening of Korean CRO capacities are supported.
Raising essential financing, activating private investment and strengthening company growth capacity are supported by company growth stage. For the initial investment and scale-up of a company, a mega fund worth more than 1 trillion Korea won, such as K-bio and vaccine funds, etc., is to be rapidly raised. A growth ladder is to be built through the policy finance, such as preferential interest rates, increased loan limit expansion, etc., and the trade insurance support expansion. To promote a company’s R&D activity, M&A is to be activated and the bio-related technologies, such as biological buffers, bio aviation fuel, etc., are to be added to the national strategic technology, thereby expanding tax credit benefits. Management consulting and overseas certification are to be supported, and a support base, such a K-bio desk, Boston CIC (Cambridge Innovation Center), etc. is to be expanded to overseas major countries, to support company growth.
3. KIPO completely reorganizes the international intellectual property education platform to significantly increase the functionality of learning convenience.
- The screen size is automatically adjusted depending on the connected device, such as a mobile phone, and continuing education is possible, thereby improving convenience.
According to KIPO’s International Intellectual Property Training Institute (IIPTI), an internation IP education platform (kipoacademy.kr), which provides an IP education service to foreigners (general public, businesspeople, students, public servants, etc.) from all over the world, has been newly reorganized to start the service from January 22.
This reorganization has been conducted to solve the problems, such as connection errors, video playback unavailability, etc. due to the platform obsolescence (made in 2013) and to improve the platform to be user-friendly.
The reorganized platform provides a responsive web service which the screen size is automatically adjusted depending on the various mobile devices, such as personal computer, smart phone, tablet PC, etc. It has also improved the user interface (UI) so that the service can be stably used in developing countries with poor computing environments.
At present, the international intellectual property education platform (kipoacademy.kr) provides, for free, various IP learning-related content developed collaboratively with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and Korea Invention Promotion Association (KIPA), etc.
The major education content includes ‘IP panorama 2.0’, ‘King of invention, Pororo’ which is a children’s invention education animation, ‘Infringement judgement of patent and trademark and rights protection’ which is an educational video, etc.
4. In the case of trademark or design infringement, punitive damage is up to 5 times.
- Amended Korean Trademark Act and Design Act was promulgated on January 21, 2025, which will take effect in 6 months.
- The punitive compensation level has increased from 3 times to 5 times, the world’s highest level.
In the case where anyone intentionally infringes a trademark right or a design right, the punitive compensation level increases from 3 times to 5 times from July 22, 2025. The 5-time punitive compensation system is applied to the trademark and design fields in addition to the patent infringement, trade secret infringement and idea stealing act, thereby expecting the protection level of all the IP rights to go up.
KIPO announced that the amended Trade Act and Design Act was promulgated on January 21, 2025 and would be effective 6 months later, on July 22, 2025.
In the case where anyone intentionally infringes a trademark right or a design right, this amendment increases the compensation (presently ‘up to 3 times’) of the amount recognized as damage ‘up to 5 times’. The quintuple punitive compensation system, which was introduced to the patent and trade secret infringements and the idea stealing act in the Patent Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act’ (August 21, 2024), has been expanded to the trademark and design fields.
The expansion of the limit of punitive damages is a measure to prevent the malicious infringement of trademark and design rights and to secure the effectiveness of damage relief. Regarding the reason why infringements are not eradicated, points have continued to be raised that it is because the profits gained through infringement are greater rather than paying full price for intellectual property. In fact, if you look at KIPO’s crackdown support performance by monitoring domestic online counterfeit products, since the distribution of the counterfeit products was sharply increased from 137,382 in 2020 to 272,948 in 2024, showing an increase by 2 times over just 5 years, it needs for stronger rights protection.
This amendment is the result of forming social consensus that the severity of the infringement across IP rights as well as patents and trade secrets has increased accordingly. The application of ‘up to 5 times’ punitive compensation system is expanded from the patent and trade secret infringements and the idea stealing act to the trademark and design infringements, the protection level across Korean IP rights is expected to further increase.
5. KIPO and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) secure the quantum technological competitiveness.
- KIPO and a quantum technology leading organization discussed cooperation plans in the IP field.
On January 14, 2025 KIPO held a meeting to secure the competitiveness in the Korean quantum technology field.
KRISS is the leading quantum technology organization which developed a 20-qubit quantum computer for the first time in Korea in 2024 and filed 119 patent applications relating to quantum technology.
Quantum technology is a national strategical technology to be the foundation for future innovation, and the number of Korean patent applications relating to quantum technology rapidly increased by an annual average of about 32% over the 10 years (2013~2022).
Through this meeting, KIPO and KRISS shared the latest status of fast-developing quantum technology and the patent trend analysis results and discussed patent strategies and cooperation plans, etc. in order for Korea to enter into developed countries in the quantum technology field.
KRISS expressed that it received great help in IP utilization and IP strategy establishment through the KIPO’s IP profit reinvestment support project (2021~2024) and patent diagnosis support project (2024) and requested KIPO to expand these support projects.
6. According to Korea Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (KIPTAB), a judge immediately decides a registration when citing an administrative trial against rejection.
- It is expected to expedite the rightzation of patents and designs.
According to KIPO’s KIPTAB, from January 2025, if a decision to register is proper and it is determined that there are no additional issues in an administrative trial against rejection regarding patent and design registrations, a judge decides to register a patent or design by an administrative trial decision.
To prevent registration delays, KIPTAB has improved such that an administrative trial against rejection should be remanded to an examiner only if there remain issues that have not been reviewed at the examination stage or when additional examination is necessary, like a new reason for rejection is found, etc. Therefore, when citing an administrative trial against rejection, since a judge directly decides to register by an administrative trial decision, an effect is expected that an applicant is able to register a patent or design earlier by 1~2 months.
Until now, as a result of a hearing of an administrative trial against rejection, if an applicant’s request for an administrative trial is recognized as reasonable, the decision to reject is cancelled and the case is returned to an examination bureau so that an examiner can re-examine the case. Thereby, a patent registration period had to be delayed until a decision to register is made in the examination bureau.
The president of KIPTAB said, “through these procedure improvements, it seems to be helpful in eliminating the inconvenience of repeating procedures and securing rights early…KIPTAB will continue to do every effort to resolve unreasonable points from a client’s perspective.”
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