1. The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) and Financial Services Commission (FSC) jointly held the 7th intellectual property financial forum (IPFF).
MOIP and FSC jointly held the 7th IPFF.
In the forum which was held with the subject on ‘transition to productive finance: the role of intellectual property (IP) finance’, about 140 people participated, including MOK Seong Ho, vice minister of MOIP, SHIN Jin Chang, secretary general of FSC, banks, investment agencies, guarantee agencies, evaluation agencies of inventions, etc., and business people interested in IP finance.
This event discussed ways to activate IP finance which is a representative productive finance in the situation where, as the development speed of the cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, quantum technology, and biotechnology, etc. has been accelerated, the finance supply to the high-tech companies has been important. MOIP and FSC have steadily worked for the expansion of IP finance, and as a result, the scale of IP finance in the Republic of Korea has exceeded 10 trillion Korea Won (based on the balance).
In the keynote speech, PARK Yong Rin, vice president of the Korea Capital Market Institute, discussed the necessity of IP finance with the subject of ‘the role of IP finance in the era of productive finance’, followed by topic presentations by experts. Among the topic presentations, the eye-catching presentations were the topic of ‘IP investment model in collaboration with local base public institutions’ to activate particularly local investment’ and the topic of ‘strategy for revitalizing the Korean IP disclosure to enhance corporate value’, including the content that corporate disclosure should contain IP strategies beyond simple quantitative information, such as the number of patents, etc.
SHIN Jin Chang, secretary general of FSC, emphasized, “to overcome the entrenched low growth and polarization of the Korea economy, we are carrying forward the great transformation of productive finance as one of the three major visions of transformation of finance…Since the revitalization of IP finance is a very important task for the great transformation to productive finance, we will continue to make our policy efforts to establish the IP finance as an important financial system, together with the relevant institutions.”
MOK Seong Ho, vice minister of MOIP, said, “IP finance is the most productive finance to lead everyone to growth…To establish a virtuous cycle structure in which IP is combined with finance to lead to business, we will carry forward focusing on the IP finance expansion and the IP investment connected to advanced high-tech industry and we will cooperate more closely with the financial sector, evaluation agencies and companies.”
2. The patent trial cases referred to mediation were settled 100% by mediation this year.
- A new solution of technology disputes is a ‘trial-mediation linkage system’ of Korea Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (KIPTAB).
KIPTAB under MOIP fully carried forward the ‘trial-mediation linkage system’ from this year. As a result, a total of 4 patent trial cases were referred to mediation this year and all of the relevant cases were settled by mediation.
Mediation as one of the means of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is to settle a dispute with the help of a mediator which is a third part and when mediation is established, it has the same effect as a judicial settlement.
According to the trial-mediation linkage system, a dispute in a pending patent trial is referred to the Industrial Property Rights Dispute Mediation Committee with the consent of the parties and a judge directly participates as a mediation committee member, thereby trying to settle the dispute by mediation rather than by trial.
Generally, it is not easy to settle patent disputes through mediation since there is a significant difference in position between the both parties on technical issues and it is also common for legal disputes to continue through civil and criminal litigation. The reason that all the cases referred to mediation through the trial-mediation linkage system were settled this year is considered as a result from the judges in charge of the cases directly participating in the mediation division and presenting a fair settlement based on technical expertise and understanding of the cases.
The settlement of a dispute through mediation is a more productive and reasonable method of resolving patent disputes in the points that it not only simply concludes legal disputes related to patents but also restores trust and cooperation relationship between the parties and it can lead to win-win results, such as delivery contracts, joint technology development, etc.
A business person participating in the mediation said, “since a judge of MOIP directly participated in mediation, the mediation process was more reliable and a compromise was found with the help of the judge with high technical expertise and understanding.”
3. MOIP held an information session on international trademark and design applications.
- The session was to share the overview of the Madrid and Hague systems and the guide on changes, the strategies of filing international applications and practical secrets.
MOIP held an information session on international trademark and design applications for the second half of 2025, for the general public interested in filing international applications, patent attorney industry workers, and companies’ people in charge of intellectual properties, etc.
In 2024, The Republic of Korea ranked 9th in the world in the number of international applications for Madrid (trademark) and 3rd in the world in the number of international applications for Hague (design), consistently maintaining the top rank. However, as the popularity of the Korean wave industry, such as K-beauty, K-fashion, etc., has spread around the world, the number of cases in which a third party registers a trademark or design of a Korean company, by preempting it without permission or imitating it, has increased. This session was prepared to prevent such damages and support Korean companies, which have expanded or prepare to expand overseas, to secure international intellectual property rights.
This session was held for 2 hours with: ▲ strategies to file trademark and design applications overseas by using the corresponding Madrid and Hague international applications, ▲ international application systems and procedures, ▲ the latest changes relating to the systems, and ▲ Q&A.
The head of the intellectual property international application division of MOIP said, “the Madrid and Hague international applications are the most important means to effectively protect overseas trademark and design rights of K-brands….MOIP will continue to provide the information of international applications through various methods, such as an information session, etc., so that Korean people can promptly secure overseas intellectual property rights.”
4. The first public-private joint planning and inspection detected a total of 479 cases of false marking in the field of home and interior decoration products.
- The performance of online platforms’ autonomous participation in the detection of false marking was confirmed.
According to MOIP, as a result of the planning and inspection of the intellectual property false marking as to ‘home and interior decoration supplies’, which was conducted jointly with cooperative open markets over August 1~September 5, 2025, a total of 479 false marking cases were detected. Six (6) of the nine (9) open markets include 9 companies (11th Street, G market, Naver Smart Store, Auction, NOL Interpark, Coupang, SSG, Lotte ON, CJ OnStyle) participated.
This inspection is a successful example of public-private cooperation to implement corrective measures, in which MOIP first detected 264 intellectual property false marking cases in the internet sales posts regarding ‘home and interior decoration supplies’ which can affect people’s life safety as the products used for a long time in the most basic living space, ‘home’, and the 5 open markets conducted their own inspections on the relevant products and additionally detected 215 cases.
The detected products are: ▲ ‘interior accessories’ (electrical sockets, etc.) - 210 cases, ▲ ‘bedroom furniture’ (mud beds, etc.) – 155 cases, ▲ ‘storage furniture’ (family room cabinets, etc.) – 41 cases, and ▲ ‘bedding’ (blankets, etc.) – 35 cases. Among these, 302 cases of false indication of ‘patent rights’ were the most. 104 cases indicate the other types of intellectual property rights as patent rights. Since a total of 405 cases (84.8%) were false indications related to ‘patent(s)’, the most cases abuse consumer’s expectation that ‘patented products will be excellent in terms of quality’.
<77.5% of the total cases false-indicated the rejected rights and lapsed rights as valid.>
The types of false indication include: ▲ 179 cases where the rights rejected from MOIP were indicated as being registered, and ▲ 192 cases where rights being previously valid but now extinguished were indicated with patent numbers, so that ‘false indication of a right’ which was used for marketing was confirmed as 77.5% of the total.
Online platforms’ active participation and autonomous inspection efforts played as a key role in this achievement. The positive cooperation of the companies including ‘11th Street’, which participated in this project, is evaluated as an exemplary case of greatly contributing to the creation of a healthy online commercial environment and simultaneously fulfilling the platforms’ social responsibility to protect consumers.
MOIP and the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency have completed the deletion, suspension of sales, and correction measures as to all 479 detected cases. They also plan to strengthen the cooperation system with open markets, so that false indication of intellectual property rights can be eradicated in the future.
5. MOIP collected public opinions on a proposed amendment to the examination practice guide in the artificial intelligence (AI) field.
MOIP published a proposed amendment to the examination practice guide in the AI field and announced to collect public opinions from November 5 to 20, 2025.
The examination practice guide in the AI field, which was enacted in 2020 and twice amended in 2021 and 2023, has been used as a representative guideline to write a specification for AI’s invention and to understand the examination standards. As the utilization of AI in the various areas of industries, such as physical AI, manufacturing AI, etc., has rapidly spread, MOIP is promoting the third amendment to reflect the latest technological environments.
For this amendment, MOIP launched a ‘council for amendment to the AI-related patent examination standards’ and prepared the proposed amendment through communications with AI representative companies, universities, and research institutes, etc. This proposed amendment vividly reflecting the voices from the field adds 5 new cases, such as generative AI, terminal AI, and AI presumptive compounds, etc., thereby containing a total of 15 specific examination cases including the previous 10 cases.
The proposed amendment is disclosed through MOIP’s website (www.moip.go.kr). Anyone interested in the proposed amendment can submit their opinions online. MOIP will review the received opinions and finalize the final draft of the amendment and publish it on the MOIP website on January 1, 2026.
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