1. Meeting of IP 5 in Switzerland to agree on multilateral patent examination highway

 

In a meeting of patent office heads of five major countries of intellectual property to be held at Geneva, Switzerland, next month, an agreement is expected to be signed between them for a ‘Patent Examination Highway (PP66H)’, which facilitates examination of patents.

Thereby, not only patent application expenses will be reduced between multilateral parties, but also the period for processing a patent a right will be shortened.  Korea will sign a bilateral PPH with major European countries to which Korean patents are largely filed. 

The KIPO announced on the 27^th that the IP5 countries of Korea, America, China, Europe and Japan would have a tentative agreement for a PPH for IP5 countries at the meeting of IP5 patent office heads on the 23^rd to further facilitate patent examinations from next month and the PPH method would be specified at a working-level meeting in October.

Also, bilateral agreements of the PPH will be signed with major European countries to which Korean company’s patents are largely filed.

 

 

2. From patent lawsuit to trademark right dispute … war of nerves for sale of generics

 

The dispute between original drug makers and generic drug makers has the front line expanding from the patent field to the trademark right field.  The dispute over the trademark right is expected to expand continuously in conjunction with the permit-patent linked implementation as the dispute is recognized as a means for original drug makers to block the entry of generic drug makers into the market with the expiry of patents and reexamination.  Unlike the past, what is noteworthy is that recently the disputes over trademark rights or designs are occurring one after another with the expiry of a large-scale patent.

The disputes over trademark rights for the recent year include a considerable number of large-scale patents such as Diovan, Viagra, Expo G and Remicade, for which it has become easy for generic products to enter the market.

 

 

3. Creative Economy Commission to announce “Strategies to Secure Standard Patents” in September

 

The government will be aggressively seeking to secure standard patents that are indispensable in the process of developing strategic products such as smart phones and displays aimed at global markets.  Also, it will finalize and announce as early as next month a five year plan of collegiate business start-up education for strengthening the collegiate business start-up function. 

A standard patent is a patent that must be utilized by any product or service manufactured according to international standards.  No products that meet international standards can be made unless they use a standard patent, so a company that owns a standard patent can exercise real dominance in the market.  At present, the number of patents registered with the International Standardization Organization is 8,540, of which 87% are concentrated on information technology (IT).

 

 

4. Maximum 2 million won prize money to be paid if an illegal character is reported

 

The illegal character reproduction market was found to be 2 trillion won.  This is equivalent to 30% of 7 trillion 2 thousand won, which is the sales amount for the year 2011 of the domestic character industry.  Most of illegal reproductions violate copyright and trademark rights.  It is difficult to judge illegality of them, and they are placed in a blind spot, so they have been pointed out as a hindrance factor to the development of the character industry.  Unlike ordinary literary products, illegal character reproductions are various in reproduction type such as combined reproduction (products made by combining two or more character products) and modified reproduction (products made by slightly modifying the original character product).

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and Korea Customs Service decided on the 10^th to prepare measures to eradicate the distribution of reproductions, form a permanent consultative body, and carry out periodical joint crackdowns.

 

 

5. 13 countries said “Let us learn the Korea-type technology assessment system”

 

In the eighth year since the introduction of KTRS of Kibo (Korea Technology Finance Corporation), Kibo is drawing attention as a ‘Korea-type exclusive patent asset’ and an ‘avant-garde of the new Korean wave of finance’ which is getting popular overseas as well as in domestic technology companies.

According to Kibo dated the 11^th, the results of assessment using the system showed that companies with a high technology business value had their accident rate drop a great deal after receiving a technology assessment guarantee and confirmed outstanding efficiency.  As its excellent performance has been recognized by many foreign countries, exchange between countries has strengthened, and a ‘two-track’ implementation through the transfer of the assessment system to interested developing countries is being accelerated.

That many countries are paying attention to the system can be easily confirmed by the fact that foreign governments and related agencies have been visiting Kibo frequently for the purpose of benchmarking since 2009.  The 13 countries and related organizations include the Innovation Office of the U. K., six European countries, the Innovation Office of the Netherlands, the Information Development Administration of Singapore, the Ministry of Economy of Taiwan, the Japan Policy Financing Corporation, and the Ministry of Finance of Thailand.

 

 

6. Creative ideas make industrialization easy

 

Choi Mun-kee (left), Minister of Future, Science and Technology, and Kim Young-min, Commissioner of the KIPO, signed a business agreement for implementing a creative economy based on intellectual property, and agreed to make joint efforts for patent registration and successful industrialization of ideas and support for business start-up. 

The six joint cooperation tasks from signing the business agreement are: joint implementation of projects relating to a creative economy; protection and utilization of ideas and technologies; obtaining source, core and standard patents and building infrastructure for utilization; cooperation in evaluating national research and development performance; efficient management and utilization of patent results; and sharing and utilization of public information.

Through this, support will be provided so that any citizen who has a creative idea or unique technology obtained in the course of daily life or a business start-up can acquire intellectual property rights easily and conveniently.