1. Korea Customs Service and KIPO will protect Korean native brands in the FTA era

In preparation for the era of FTAs with many countries including China, 2015’s first KIPO-KCS Policy Consultative Meeting was held for the strengthening of Korean businesses’ international competitiveness and the protection of Korean brands.

The two government agencies agreed to share information on the crackdown details of intellectual property rights with China, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. to root out fake brand circulation, invite and train customs officials, and hold K-brand presentation meetings for government officials in charge of crackdowns on fake brands. In addition, they agreed with the customs authorities of advanced countries such as America, Germany and Japan to share crackdown knowhow and information on crackdown details for mutual cooperation.

2. China’s patent application recorded the top position for four straight years

China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) reported that China attained the first rank in the world for the annual number of patent applications with 928,000 last year compared to 825,000 in 2013, an increase of 12.5% over the previous year.

China has kept the world’s first rank for four straight years since it beat America in 2011, which used to be exclusively the top country in patent applications. Of the total number of patent applications, 801,000 (86.3%) are domestic applications, and the remaining 127,000 are foreign applications.

The number of patents obtained in the world last year reached 233,000, of which 163,000 are domestic patents, accounting for 70%.

3. KIPO to support 22 countries for disputes over intellectual property rights

The KIPO will make an expert pool consisting of 37 domestic and foreign legal offices, which can provide legal advice on intellectual property rights, to support 22 countries including Japan, Hong Kong and the U. K. for legal advice and infiltration investigation for the prevention of and contingency plans for disputes over intellectual property rights.

Five countries (China, America, Thailand, Vietnam and Germany), in which foreign intellectual property centers (IP-DESK) are set up, can receive legal advice and support for infiltration investigation through local IP-DESK. Those who can receive support are small and medium businesses planning to advance into foreign countries.

Support includes securing intellectual property rights such as foreign patent applications, letters of warning for disputes over intellectual property rights, legal advice on fake product crackdowns, and infiltration investigation, and up to 70% (ten million won once a year) of the necessary expenses.

4. KIPO publishes intellectual property right protection guidebooks for 6 countries including China and Germany

Since2005, the KIPO has been making guidebooks for 25 countries including America, China and Japan, and the recently published guidebooks reflect the laws of intellectual property rights and the change in the systems in six countries including China, Germany, Taiwan and Brazil, to and from which the volume of trade is increasing. A detailed introduction to the unique systems of each country such as the Famous Mark Protection System of China, in particular, and information on foreign patent attorneys are greatly reinforced in the guidebooks.