1. Korea IP market size is no more than 1/13 of that of the U. S. market

According to the “Foreign Intellectual Property Service Industry Market Status” report made by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the Korean Association of Intellectual Property Service (KAIPS), the U. S. and Japanese IP service market sizes are respectively 4 trillion 330 billion won and 1 trillion 367.6 billion won as of 2009, so they are respectively 12.83 times and 4.05 times larger than 337.7 billion won, the market size of this country.  They were estimated by applying weights to the IP market size indicators, IP activity infrastructure indicators, and IP activity indicators of each country and without including the amount of patent lawsuit damages.

As a background for such differences in the market size, an expert pointed out, “In addition to the perception of not properly recognizing the monetary value of a patent, there is a failure in securing the expenses even if they have won a patent lawsuit because the patent lawsuit nullity rate is high and the amount of patent lawsuit damages is a median of 55 million won, which is very low compared with 10 million dollars (approximately 11 billion won) in the case of the U. S.”

2. Supreme Court rules “If it is a favorite of Hollywood stars, it is to be acknowledged as a well-known trademark.”

The Supreme Court Section 2 (Chief Justice Shin Young-chul) ruled that the trademark ‘KITSON’ of an American company which sells clothes, bags, sunglasses, watches, etc. that are patronized by Hollywood stars and is well-known in the press should have its trademark value acknowledged.  It was announced on the 25^th that in a trial at the Supreme Court for a registration invalidation lawsuit raised by a domestic company Mainone, which sells bags, clothes, etc., against an American company A-List, which uses ‘kitson’ as its trademark, the court overturned the original decision ruled for the plaintiff and remanded the case to the Korean Patent Court. 

The court explained regarding the trademark of the American company, “The trademark was patronized by Hollywood stars through major newspapers or broadcasting stations of America in 2005 and 2006 and was reported to be very popular also for their fans.

3. Via Licensing Corporation establishes a ‘Patent Pool’

It was established with intent that world-class telecommunications companies and manufacturers unite for the purpose of using LTE patents fairly and non-discriminatorily through licensing for the prevention of an LTE patent war.

Via Licensing Corporation set up the Patent Pool on the 3^rd so that wireless communications companies can make use of LTE patents efficiently and transparently through cost reduction.  The Patent Pool is ten companies of SK Telecom, AT&T, KDDI, NTT Dokomo, Telephonica, Telecom Italia, Cleawire Corporation, HP, ZTE and DTVG Licensing.  However, the Patent Pool seems that it won’t have its purpose as a cooperative body accomplished unless major smart phone manufacturers such Samsung Electronics, Apple, LG Electronics, Motorola and Nokia join.

4. Global patent war has triggered a first UN international conference

With a global patent war building up to become a new trade barrier, a UN-led first patent round was held on the 10^th at Geneva, Switzerland.  This is to define a problem of excessive filing of patent lawsuits in the IT field in many countries of the world and review the principle of fair competition.  This country, which has become a major target of a global patent war, should pay attention to this conference.  Samsung Electronics, for example, was sued by patent trolls in 42 cases last year to rank first in the world.

In this conference conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the UN, many opinions were presented to propose restrictions to the act of raising patent infringement suits intended to block competition from selling their products and readjustment of the principle of FRAND (fair and reasonable use of patents) to fit the industrial reality.

5. International Civil IP Federation launched to find solutions to global patent disputes

In a situation where a global war is intensifying day by day, the International Civil IP Federation was formally launched in this country to enhance the intellectual property value and improve the competitive system.  It is to find reasonable solutions to patent disputes by strengthening a cooperative system between world IP experts. 

The first general meeting of a privately led Global Intellectual Property Summit (GIPS) was held by the AIPLA of America at Washington, D. C.  The second general meeting was held at Paris, France, and the third was held at Rome, Italy.  On the 18^th at the Seoul Ritz Carlton Hotel, a general meeting was held to adopt the articles of association and the Seoul Intellectual Property Declaration.  The GIPS was launched formally on this day, and IP experts of 22 countries including organizations of patent attorneys of each country got together and promised to share IP information and build a cooperative system.

6. Proactive copyright service started

Representative director Y of company A, a local venture business, recently received a certification of contents from a law firm that it violated copyright law because its web designer who is no longer with the company used a copyrighted image.  The law firm has requested to pay an unreasonable amount of royalties.  Failing to reach an agreement, this case was involved in a criminal charge, but was ruled ‘clear from suspicion.’  However, the law firm filed a civil action.

This is because the tentacles of multinational companies and conglomerates that control copyrights are directed to local small-and-medium venture businesses and one-man start-up businesses.  Taking such a situation into consideration, the Korea Copyright Commission has started a proactive copyright service to help local businesses.