1. KIPO held a presentation of 2025 trademark and design system trends.
- KIPO provided a place to share changes in the Korean trademark and design systems.
KIPO held a presentation of the recently changed trademark and design system trends on February 23.
Through the presentation, the trademark- and design-related legislation and examination criteria, etc. to be implemented as part of active administration this year were introduced in detail. Opinions on the amendment bill or system improvement direction under discussion in the National Assembly were also actively collected.
As the trademark objection period is to be shortened from 2 months at present to 30 days (effective in July 2025), the examination processing period will be shortened by 1 month and therefore, the timing of securing an applicant’s right is expected to be brought forward.
Further, the names of digital convergence new products, such as, a ‘cooking robot equipped with artificial intelligence (AI)’ using an advanced technology, are recognized. The product examination practice reflecting the transaction conditions of a product, such as a change in similar group code for pet health food, etc., will be also continued to improve.
The criteria for determining whether one design is similar to another design will be improved. Since a full design and a partial design are different from each other in terms of format, these have been determined to be not similar to each other. However, in the future, an examiner may determine these designs to be similar to each other by analyzing an actual scope of rights. The methods of making drawings for a vehicle interior design are to be clearly regulated to enhance an applicant’s understanding.
This presentation provided an explanation of the RIYADH Design Law Treaty (adopted in November 2024) which is an international treaty on design application procedures, tec.
The director of the trademark and design examination bureau of KIPO said, “as part of the active administration, this presentation will contribute to resolving the industry’s curiosity about the newly changing trademark and design systems and to improving the convenience of agents….We will continue efforts to improve the systems by collecting opinions on the demand for amendments.”.
2. KIPO and Korea Trade-Investment Promoting Agency (KOTRA) held a policy council and a meeting with export companies (February 5).
- KIPO and KOTRA took the lead in expanding IP-based exports.
KIPO and KOTRA which is a specialized export support agency held a policy council and a meeting with companies, to strengthen Korean companies’ IP-based export competitiveness.
While exports showed a temporary slowdown in January, the two arranged this council to promote Korean export companies’ expansion into overseas markets by supporting them in strengthening their IP capabilities,
in the policy council, KIPO and KOTRA discussed support measures to improve Korean export companies’ IP competitiveness. They agreed to strengthen the integrated (one-stop) support from securing overseas rights for Korean export companies to their local settlement, by connecting KIPO’s overseas IP center(s) and KOTRA’s overseas branching business.
They also decided to cooperate to strengthen export challenge companies’ competitiveness by preliminary analyzing overseas IP dispute risks of domestic companies and export novices which wish to enter overseas markets and providing strategies to resolving the dispute risks. A permanent contact system between KIPO’s IP center(s) and KOTRA is to be established to provide Korean export companies with prompt consultation to resolve their difficulties.
In the meeting with companies, KIPO and KOTRA sought improvement measures by listening to Korean export companies’ IP-related difficulties and reflecting the voices for the field.
The president of KOTRA said, “as a pan-ministerial global business platform, KOTRA is in process of actively supporting the government departments’ overseas expansion support projects…We will make efforts in expanding convenience of companies through the comprehensive export support combining KOTRA network and KIPO’s professionalism.”
The commissioner of KIPO said, “Through this policy council, we will cooperate more closely with KOTRA such that Korean export companies are able to secure competitive advantage in the global market based on IP and lead to expansion of export…..KIPO will be one team with companies so that an export growth, which is the backbone of our economy, is maintained again amid difficult export conditions.”
3. Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS, https://www.kipris.or.kr) opened newly reorganized IP information search services (February 3).
- Easy and convenient search environments are provided by applying domestic and international integrated searches and the responsive web.
According to KIPO, KIPRIS has been reorganized to easily and more efficiently search domestic and international IP information and available since February 3.
KIPRIS is a representative IP search platform which integratedly provides the patent, trademark and design publications of South Korea and 29 foreign countries (agencies) and the domestic administrative processing information, etc. As KIPRIS became an essential tool for technology development and market analysis, the number of search cases per year based on 2024 was 160 million times and its utilization also increased every year.
This reorganization focused on the following details so that people are able to more easily and conveniently use KIPRIS:
① Domestic and international integrated search has been applied: Previously, there was the inconvenience of having to search separately domestic information and international information. However, the service has been improved so that you can check all of domestic and international information with one search by introducing the integrated search function. Further, the menu system has been simplified and the overlapping or similar functions have been consolidated or rearranged, thereby enabling intuitive and efficient use.
② The responsive web technology has been applied: The responsive web technology has been introduced so that users are provided with same search screens in various device environments, such as PC, tablets, smart phones, etc. Therefore, the users can enjoy a consistent user experience (UX) regardless of location or device type.
③ Search screen has been reorganized: The latest design trend has been reflected to realize a simple and neat main screen. A two-tier search results screen has been provided instead of unnecessary pop-up windows, to increase readability. The Korean and English home pages have been integrated and the language switching function (Korean↔English) has been added, so that both Koreans and foreigners can use the service on the same screen.
④ Statistical functions have been strengthened: Statistical visualization function for search results has been also added. Key statistics in the form of tables, charts and graphs have been provided so that the users can more usefully analyze IP information. The scope of statistics has been expanded to provide overseas trademark and design information to increase global competitiveness.
4. KIPO appointed 51 new patent examiners in the bio, advanced-tech robot and AI fields.
- Excellent technical personnel with high level of expertise have been introduced with 88.2%, Master’s and Ph.D. degree holding rate.
On February 3, KIPO announced 51 final successful candidates as professional fixed-term patent examiners in the bio, advanced-tech robot and AI fields.
KIPO has hired private experts in the national strategical technology field as patent examiners, aiming to secure the technological sovereignty and to recover the economic dynamism through IP. Over the last 2 years, a total of 105 experts were appointed as professional fixed-term patent examiners including 67 in the semiconductor field (2023~2024) and 38 in the secondary battery field (2024). Through this recruitment, the technical expertise from the private sectors was brought in the bio, advanced robot and AI fields.
Early this year, KIPO published the plan to expand the ‘IP examination package support system’ covering examination personnel, dedicated organization and preferential examination, as the strategies to carry forward the IP-based technological innovation. To this end, KIPO increased the examination personnel in the bio, advanced robot and AI fields through this recruitment and newly designated the relevant technology fields as the subjects of preferential examination from February 19, thereby planning to actively support Korean companies in securing IP rights as soon as possible.
Especially, since the bio, advanced robot and AI fields are the fastest changing technology fields in the industrial field, expertise to apply, in time, these technologies for examination is very important. This recruitment reflecting this point has the feature of, ‘excellent technical personnel with high level of expertise’. The Master’s and Ph.D. degree holding rate of the 51 final successful candidates is 88.2%, which is far higher than 78.5% in the semiconductor and secondary battery fields and 79.8% of the current professional fixed-term patent examiners of KIPO.
Through an education for new examiners (February 3~21) and an education for new civil servants (February 24~28), the 51 newly appointed examiners will be arranged at examination departments dedicated by technical field, to conduct patent examination work. KIPO plans to support new examiners with close guidance (mentoring) from senior examiners, for the new examiners’ adaptation to the organization and their examination capability development.
5. Recruitment of a new private collaborative exchange agency in 2025 (January 31~February 13).
- Recruitment of a new private collaborative exchange agency to broker an IP trade with a public IP specialized transaction agency.
< Best cases of collaborative private and public IP exchange>
○ Company, “H”, specialized in sewage treatment equipment, took over the technology of cracking ammonia from university, “K”, and developed a hydrogen production device utilizing ammonia generating the sewage treatment process. This company has been expanding its business area from ‘environmental facility’ to eco-friendly energy.
○ Company, “S”, specialized in agricultural machinery, took over the technology of measuring high-precision position, etc. from university, “D”, and developed an unmanned autonomous agricultural machinery and newly expanded the business area to the new technology field.
To activate the IP exchange market, KIPO advertised to newly recruit 6 companies as ‘private collaborate exchange agency’ to jointly broker a deal with the IP exchange (under the Korea Invention Promotion Association, KIPA).
Since 2020, every year KIPO has designated the exchange institutions that meet certain requirements as the ‘private collaborate exchange agencies’ and supported a total of 30 agencies with the ‘program to foster a private exchange specialized agency. When a company is designated as a ‘private collaborate exchange agency’, it receives public diverse experiences and know-how by exchange step by step while going through the entire process for IP exchange and brokage jointly with an IP exchange expert for 3 years.
To create a culture of paying appropriate IP transaction brokerage fees, the brokerage fee income generated through joint brokerage is distributed to a private collaborate exchange agency according to contribution. In addition, the private collaborate exchange agency as an IP exchange agency with public trust recognized in the IP exchange field is provided with transaction agency promotion through an online IP transaction platform (IP-Market) and receives consultation for companies in demand.
The director of the intellectual property policy bureau of KIPO said, “in the era of digital and eco-friendly transformation, the open innovation in which a company promotes the commercialization of an excellent technology transferred from outside becomes increasingly important…We will spare no effort in providing policy support to create an IP exchange market led by the private sector.”
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