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KIPO listens to on-site voices regarding an amendment to the Korean Patent Act, etc.(News Letter No. 561) |
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KH |
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2025-10-01 |
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166 |
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1. KIPO listens to on-site voices regarding an amendment to the Korean Patent Act, etc.
- KIPO held a meeting of IP experts to reflect the voices of the field.
On September 23, 2025, KIPO held a meeting of IP experts to improve the patent system reflecting the on-site voices of the legal and industrial circles.
The IP legal experts, such as judges, patent attorneys, etc., attended the morning meeting and the people in charge of IP of the major companies, such as Samsung, SK, Hyundai, LG, etc. attended the afternoon meeting.
Through the meeting, KIPO discussed ⊂ an amendment to the Patent Act regarding a time limit expiry and a remedy related to an application and a registration and ⊂ an improvement to the patent system, such as preferential examination, deferred examination, etc., and they listened to the opinions from legal and industrial circles on the other requirements for system improvement.
Notably, since the amendment to the Patent Act regarding a time limit expiry and a remedy relating to an application and a registration is to prevent a patent right from being lost due to an applicant’s mistake in patent procedures, it is expected to be of great help to companies on the verge of patent loss due to minor mistakes.
The director of the Patent Examination Policy Bureau of KIPO said, “KIPO is paying attention to ensure that the right to innovation is not thwarted∼ KIPO will continue to improve the patent system so that Korean companies’ innovative technologies can become patents recognized as strong rights.”
2. PATINEX 2025 was held to show the latest patent information trends in one place.
KIPO held the ‘PATINEX (PATnet Information Expo) 2025, which is the largest international patent information exhibition in Korea, from September 18 and 19, 2025.
PATINEX 2025, which is to share the patent information utilization strategies and know-how of companies leading technological innovation in the global competition for technology hegemony, is the largest patent information event in Korea, celebrating its 21st anniversary this year. This event with the subject of ‘new possibility through AI revolution and IP data was filled with in-depth lectures by domestic and foreign experts and various exhibitions by patent information service companies. Various side events were also held such that communication between companies could lead to business results.
On September 18, the event started with a keynote speech titled ‘the era of intellectual property innovation opened by AI’ by Professor Byungtak JANG, who served as the first director of the AI research institute at Seoul National University, followed by diverse presentations on patent strategies and AI technologies including ‘4 business reasons for patent portfolio development’ and ‘prospects for future intelligient economy transformation through an AI agent’, etc. by domestic and foreign patent experts, such as Google, WIPO and Professor Kyungjeon LEE of Kyung Hee University, etc.
On the same day, an award ceremony was also held for outstanding winners of the contest of startups utilizing intellectual property data’ and the ‘public idea content of intellectual property information policy’, which were held in May to discover promising ideas utilizing patent information and to support foundation and technology commercialization.
On September 19, the experts of leading global AI companies, such as IBM, DAIKIN, Naver, Upstage, etc., provided the audience with insights for topics on the convergence of patent information and AI technology to establish companies’ management strategies. In addition, this event also provided an opportunity to look at the trends and informatization strategies of each country through the presentations by the participants from JPO and EPO.
This PATINEX 2025 also arranged an exhibition booth to experience various services along with lectures. Notably, as the scale of the exhibition has been greatly expanded this year, compared to last year, it was possible to directly experience the various services of 30 domestic and foreign patent information service companies. Further, a program to match a business meeting between a service company and a consumer was also operated to lead to business agreements, such as signing of service purchase and business agreement (MOU).
3. WIPO published ‘2025 Global Innovation Index’ for 139 member countries.
- South Korea ranked 4th for the first time in history∼leaping to the top innovative country in Asia.
- South Korea ranked 1st in the human capital and research field for 7 consecutive years and ranked 1st in 3 indicators including patent applications compared to GDP, etc.
South Korea was recognized as one of the four major global innovation powers and the most innovative country in Asia. According to KIPO, South Korea ranked 4th overall among 139 countries and 1st among Asian countries in the 2025 Global Innovation Index (GII) published by WIPO. This is considered that the high innovation capability of South Korea, which ranked in the top 10 for 6 consecutive years since 2020, has been recognized in the world.
GII is calculated by combining a total of 78 detailed indicators in 7 fields, including 5 input fields: ↘ institutions, ♭ human capital and research, ♩ infrastructure, ♪ market sophistication, ♬ business sophistication, and 2 output fields: ㉿ knowledge and technology outputs and ㈜ creative outputs. South Korea ranked 4th in the input fields and 6th in the output fields. Notably, South Korea ranked 1st in the world for 7 consecutive years in the human capital and research field.
South Korea was evaluated as 1st in the world in the 3 indicators, such as patent applications compared to GDP, government online services among information and communication technology infrastructure, and corporate research capabilities among 78 detailed indicators. South Korea was evaluated as the world’s 3rd highest in the international patent applications (PCT) and design applications compared to GDP.
By the global ranking, Switzerland ranked 1st, followed by Sweden, the US, South Korea, Singapore and the UK. In addition, China ranked 10th and Japan 12th.
The commissioner of KIPO said, “the reason why South Korea’s innovation capabilities were highly evaluated is that the efforts of the government and the private sectors to develop human resources and build infrastructure have led to active IP creation and protection.” He also added, “KIPO will support for innovation performance to be effectively utilized and stably protected, thereby securing a competitive edge in the global market.”
4. An original trade secret certificate for overseas use is certified by the government.
- Issuance of an apostille of an original trade secret certificate is expected to further strengthen a Korean company’s technology protection.
# Company “A”, a manufacturer of electrical and electronic components, submitted an original trade secret certificate during a lawsuit with a board member “B”, who leaked a new product development plan, without permission, and transferred to a similar company. Company “A” used the original certificated as evidence to prove that company “A” kept the relevant information as the ‘trade secret’ at the time of registering it with the agency of the original certificate.
KIPO and an overseas Koreans Agency have issued an apostille of an original trade secret certificate, without notarization, since September 15, 2025. Apostille is a certificate for official documents created in South Korea and submitted to other countries.
An original trade secret certificate is a document to prove the existence and time of retention of a trade secret, without concern about external leakage or lack of evidence by registering the unique value of the original electronic file with the original certification agency.
Apostille is a certificate to confirm the authenticity of Korean documents to be submitted to other countries by the head of the overseas Koreans Agency to ensure that the Korean documents are effective overseas. Apostille is issued only to official documents (documents issued by government agencies, notarized documents, etc.) in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.
Previously, since an original trade secret certificate was issued by Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency not by the government agency, the certificate must be notarized by a notary public to apply for an apostille and so there was a limitation that it could not be recognized as an official document.
As an original trade secret certificate has been included in the subjects of apostille issuance from September 15, Korean companies can apply for apostille issuance, without notarization procedures, and therefore time and economic burden are expected to be greatly reduced.
In addition, since an original trade secret document can be used as an official evidence material when a dispute occurs overseas, the intellectual property protection is expected to be further strengthened.
5. The number of female applicants of design applications increased by nearly 5 times over 25 years.
-Women were strong in the items sensitive to trend changes.
It was found that one of three applicants of Korean design applications is a woman.
According to KIPO, the proportion of female applicants of design applications was only 7.6% in 1999, however, it rapidly increased to 35.4% in 2024 and the same proportion was kept in the first half of 2025. It was increased by almost five times in 25 years.
Although the proportion of female applicants of patent and utility model applications over the same period increased from 5.2% to 20.7% and the proportion of female applicants of trademark applications increased from 14.3% to 38.0%, the proportion of female applicants of design applications showed the steepest increase in terms of percentage growth.
While the number of applications filed by individual applicants generally decreased after COVID-19, the number of applications filed by female applicants, mainly from the MZ generation, has maintained an upward trend and emerged as a new growth engine in the design industry.
Looking at the status of applications by age in the first half of this year, the proportion of male applicants of design applications in their 50s was the highest, but the proportion of female applicants in their 30s or younger accounted for the majority of design applications (50.6%, as of June 2025), showing that the proportion of young people was overwhelmingly high.
A clear difference was shown in the classification of goods. While it was common for both men and women applicants to file a large number of applications for clothing and fashion accessories (class 2), men were strong in traditional manufacturing-based goods, such as furniture (class 6), construction units and construction materials (class 25), etc., whereas, women was prominent in the fields that could quickly reflect the tastes of young consumers and the latest trends, such as stationery and office equipment (class 19) and article of adornment (class 11).
Notably, in foods (class 1) and stationery and office equipment (class 19), the number of applications filed by women surpassed that by men after 2022. The proportion of the applications filed by women was 63.9% in class 1 and 51.3% in class 19 in the first half of this year, continuing their lead.
This trend is in line with changes in the market environment based on digital platforms, beyond simple preference of items. As online shopping has become the main purchasing channel and SNS and online communities have become key spaces for communication and spread, young female creators who are sensitive to trends and familiar with online can quickly reflect their ideas in the market.
In addition, as the spread of influencer marketing has been expanded, the base of a female creator’s activity has been wider in the field of goods that the barriers to entry for production and sales are low and the tread reflection cycles are fast.
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