1. KIPO has published ‘Analysis on Chinese counterfeit product distribution’
The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) jointly have published the analysis on Chinese counterfeit product distribution (on cosmetics), which analyzes the current status of the production and distribution of counterfeit cosmetics within China. The publications will be distributed to the relevant industries.
This publication includes the current status of the Chinese cosmetic markets, the trends of counterfeit cosmetics in online shopping malls, the analysis on distribution networks of counterfeit cosmetics through actual cases and the methods to control counterfeit cosmetics, etc.
This investigation was conducted through surveys to Chinese people and the objective literature analysis on 1,500 court judgments related to counterfeit cosmetics within China. It also includes the information of the manufacturers, distribution bases and sales areas of the counterfeit cosmetics.
This publication is expected to provide Korean companies, which want to export cosmetics to China, with information on how counterfeit cosmetics are distributed. It is also expected to deliver, in depth, to those Korean companies, the matters to be attended to prevent the counterfeit product issues and to plan for countermeasures.
2. The number of PCT international patent applications related to the technology for catching fine dust has distinctly increased
According to KIPO, 317 international patent applications for fine dust-related technology were filed all around the world for the last ten (10) years. The average annual number of these applications was 28 from 2008 to 2014 but 40 from 2015 to September 2017, showing an increase of 42.8% over the last three (3) years in comparison with the previous seven (7) years.
Based on the fine dust-related major technologies, 120 applications (37.6%) were filed for the filter/separation technology, 59 (18.7%) for the dust collection technology, 27 (8.5%) for the measurement technology and 111 (35.2%) for the reduction technology.
Based on the applicants, many applications were filed by Korean companies including LG Electronics, Amore Pacific, POSCO, etc. and Japanese companies including Sharp, Taiheiyo Cement, Toray Industries, etc. It is also notable that German companies including BASF, BSH Bosch, Siemens, etc. are included in the high rank companies in the number of these applications.
Specifically, since only 34 applications (10.5%) for the fine dust-related technologies were filed by the high rank companies in the number of the applications; whereas 283 (89.5%) were filed by small and medium companies, individuals, institutes, schools, etc., the relevant technologies are not considered to converge on any specific companies only.
3. The filing of patent applications for Exo Suits (wearable exoskeleton robots) has been active
According to KIPO, the number of Korean patent applications in the field of the exo suits that a human and a robot fuse in one was only 3 in 2009 but has rapidly increased since 2010 such that 40 or more, on average, were filed per year during the last two (2) years.
Exo suits are used in the variety of areas, such as industrial fields, rescue operations, military technologies, rehabilitation medical treatments, etc. Airport workers in exo suits who carry heavy baggage or the solders in full combat gear who run at 16km per hour are not just the virtual scenes shown in movies.
Based on the applicants, Korean applicants filed about 97% of the relevant applications, including big companies with 43% (100 applications), university with 21% (48), institutes with 15% (35), small and medium companies with 15% (34) and individuals with 4% (10). The companies (agencies) to file many applications are Hyundai Motor (41 applications), Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd (27) and the National Defense and Science Institute (21).
4. The number of patent applications using the block chain technology has increased
According to KIPO, the number of the patent applications related to the block chain technology totaled 240 from 2013 to August 2017.
Over the years, 3 applications were filed in 2013 and 5 in 2014, totaling only 8 for the two (2) years. However, 24 applications were filed in 2015, 94 in 2016 and 114 in January to August 2017, showing a recent rapid increase.
The application trends by industrial areas are as follows:
The relevant applications converged on the ICT areas including e-commerce (57.5%), communications (28.3%) and computers (11.7%). Others are electricity (1.3%), precision instrument (0.4%), electron (0.4%), automobile (0.4%).
The patent applications in the e-commerce are featured by payment (61.6%), finance (15.9%), business/transaction (8.7%) and management (2.9%).
The applications for the block chain technology were concentrated on the e-commerce area during 2013~2014 but have gradually increased in the other industrial areas such as communications and computers.
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