1. IP protection strategy seminar for renovation technology to lead 4th industrial revolution
The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) opened an IP protection strategy seminar for renovation technology to lead the 4th industrial revolution, together with Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency and Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business.
The number of patent applications for the 4th industrial revolution-related technology has recently increased in major countries but the Republic of Korea is still in the position of a second mover.
According to the KIPO in 2016, Korean filed 2,638 patent applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) over the last ten (10) years whereas US filed about 24,054 (9.1 times) and Japanese filed 4,208 (1.6 times).
KIPO prepared the seminar by inviting the experts in each area regarding the concept of the 4th industrial revolution and the relevant technological trends, to help Korean export companies in understanding these matters and to improve the IP securing and protecting awareness.
This seminar was especially for the small and medium companies, to introduce the trends and commercialization cases in the 4th industrial revolution-related technological areas and the strategic plan to protect the IP of the renovation technologies to lead the 4th industrial revolution.
In addition, a support program for consultation to prevent a dispute, a support program for an intellectual property lawsuit insurance and an industrial property dispute mediation committee system were introduced as KIPO’s IP protection support policies for the small and medium companies.
2. Winning a trademark invalidation trial against a Chinese trademark broker was made through a joint countermeasure to an IP dispute
KIPO announced that a Korean company succeeded in leading an invalidation decision of the China Trademark Committee in a trademark invalidation trial against a Chinese trademark broker.
In this case, the China Trademark Committee stated that: as a defendant (trademark broker), Mr. Kim’s act of filing an application for a trademark to be registered “had a clear intentionality to reproduce and plagiarize a trademark of another”, and such an act “violated the principle of good faith by damaging to the fair competition market order, thereby clarifying that the trademark broker’s act of preoccupancy without notice is a ground of invalidation.
At the beginning of this year, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter, referred to as the China Trademark Office) revised the trademark examination and trial standards by reflecting KIPO’s request for continuous concern in trademark brokers. Therefore, this is considered as a first winning case that the foregoing reflection on a trademark of a Korean company was reflected.
Mr. Kim is a Chinese trademark broker, who first filed applications for about 610 trademarks of Korean companies from 2015 and then requested high settlement money from the Korean companies, which were true owners of the rights, and continued damaging to them by delaying their advance into China.
3. The filing of the applications for organic light emitting diodes (OLED) displays for virtual and augmented reality is active
According to KIPO, the filing of the applications for OLED displays for virtual and augmented reality is showing an increasing tendency each year. The number of the relevant applications greatly increased over the last three (3) years.
Based on the years, the number of these applications was 240 in 2014, 263 in 2015 and 439 in 2016, showing a rapid increase starting from 2014.
A variety of conditions, such as resolution, speed of response, utilization, wearing sensation, price, etc., is required to be developed as prior tasks for the full popularization of virtual and augmented reality devices. In the point that OLED displays realize realistic images and enable easy flexible designs, OLED displays superiorly satisfy the foregoing needs in comparison with the previous liquid crystal displays. Thus, for this reason, it is considered as resulting in an increase in the number of the applications for the OLED displays for virtual and augmented reality.
4. The number of patent applications related to a technology of diagnosing cancer by one drop of blood has rapidly increased
According to KIPO, the number of the applications related to the technology of diagnosing cancer by detecting a biomarker included in body fluids, such as blood and urine, was 59 in 2007 but rapidly increased to 308 in 2016.
A general technology of diagnosing cancer by using blood from the body is as follows:
After blood sampling from a patient to be examined, a drop of the blood is applied to a diagnosis kit mounted with a biosensor. The amount of a biomarker is detected by measuring an electrochemical or optical signal which generates when a biomarker included in the blood is bound with an antibody fixed in the biosensor. The probability of a cancer incidence is determined by comparing with a normal control group.
This in vitro diagnosis is very inexpensive relative to an in vivo diagnosis which uses medical devices, such as an endoscope, MRI and CT, or which takes a biopsy to take a body tissue where cancer is suspected. Further, in vitro diagnosis is capable of diagnosing cancer by using the body fluids, such as blood or urine, without any special preparation processes.
Upon reviewing the number of the applications for in vitro diagnosis technology over the last ten (10) years, based on types of detailed cancer, 406 applications were related to lung cancer, 386 to breast cancer, 277 to colorectal cancer, 270 to stomach cancer, 259 to liver cancer, and 255 to prostate cancer.
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