1. Customized Package Examination of Patent, Trademark and Design to help reinforce business competitiveness

The KIPO’s package examination system, whereby applications for patent, trademark and design are examined all at once at the time desired by the applicant, is receiving a positive response from big business. Since it is possible to secure the patent, design, etc. of a product that has convergence technology applied in a package according to a specific business strategy, it is effective for a business to respond proactively to the intellectual property rights of its competitor.

Five cases of intellectual property rights are being examined through the package examination system for LG Chemicals, LG Electronics, SK Innovation and other individual applicants.

2. Korea records third in the world for five years in PCT International Search

The KIPO announced on the 30^th that the KIPO (30,461 cases) ranked third following the European Patent Office (77,395 cases) and the Japan Patent Office (42,433 cases) according to the recently published PCT Annual Review of the WIPO. In the International Search Report published by Korea last year, 18,103 cases, which is 60% of the International Search Report, are ones for which foreign companies chose to apply for a patent with the KIPO, highlighting foreign companies preferences for the KIPO. The KIPO earned 21 million dollars in 2013 through the PCT International Search.

3. Japan Cannon wins in a photosensitive drum suit against a Korean company

The Supreme Court Section 1 (Chief judge: Justice Yang Chang-su) confirmed the original verdict, in which the court decided partially in favor of the plaintiff, in a damage claim suit raised by Japan Cannon against AlphaChem, a Korean photosensitive drum manufacturing company. The Supreme Court ruled “AlphaChem shall pay Cannon over 1.564 billion won for damages,” saying “AlphaChem is deemed to have infringed the patent right of Cannon.”

Cannon had raised a patent right lawsuit against AlphaChem, saying the latter pirated the manufacturing method of a triangle-shaped gear device used for loading a ‘photosensitive drum’, which is one of laser printer toner core parts.

4. Ruling on drug use invention, pharmacological mechanism is no more than a property of a substance and is not a component defining the claim

The Supreme Court (decided on May 16, 2014, 2012Hoo3664 rejection decision (patent)) ruled that since a pharmacological mechanism is no more than an instrument for deriving a combination of a specific substance and drug use, the pharmacological mechanism described in the claim of a drug use invention has significance as a component of the invention only within the limit of specifying the drug use that a specific substance has, and the pharmacological mechanism itself cannot be deemed to be a component defining the claim.