Commissioner Park Won-joo of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) (Photo: KIPO)

Of late, Korea became the seventh country in the world to register a 2 millionth patent following the United States, France, the UK, Japan, Germany and China. But Korea has dull dynamics of the IP ecosystem due to insufficient functions and roles of IPs.

Commissioner Park Won-joo of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) said, “Despite the nation’s standing of a patent powerhouse ranking fourth in the world in terms of patent applications, values of IPs are not properly recognized due to low IP protection and screening levels, which results in the declining IP transaction market and low IP financing.”

Commissioner, entering 2nd year in office, said. “In order to fix these problems, the KIPO plans to suggest each industry’s future leadership strategies by analyzing about 43,000 cases of parent big data while focusing on enhancing IP values by building a solid, swift deliberation and judgment system for companies and research institutes’ attainment of quality patents and strengthening damage compensations against damages caused by patent violations.”

“We’re redouble efforts to reform companies and other economic entities so that IPs can be transacted and utilized well by inaugurating a reprocessing body to boost IP asset collateral. The KIPO also focuses on expanding growth potential by offering bigger policy support such as IP-R&D and support for securing overseas patents so that startups and SMEs can grow in the global market based on IPs,” he said.

The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and KIPO Commissioner Park in which he spoke of KIPO policies, including one on convergence technology patents related to the full-fledged launched of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Question: A ceremony in which President Moon Jae-in singed the register of the nation’s 2 millionth patent in person took place at Cheong Wa Dae recently. What does it mean?

Answer: Registration of a 2 millionth patent came in 73 years since a patent system made its debut in 1946. The event was a national feast in which Korea became the seventh country to do so in the world following the United States, France, the UK, Japan, Germany and China.

It took 62 years to register a 1 millionth patent since a first patent made it on the patent register in 1948, but the period for registering a 1 millionth and a 2 millionth patent has been cut to nine years.

In particular, registering a 2 millionth patent and a 1 millionth design means more than the number of registration, symbolizing achievements of our technology innovation and excellent national capabilities.

President Moon not only gave words of praise on the registering of a 2 millionth patent, but also spoke about tasks the KIPO will have to tackle with. President Moon categorized Japan’s raw material and part export curbs on Korea, the much-talked topic of the Korean economy, as a kind of battle for a hegemony for patent technologies and he told the KIPO to lead in efforts to protect our technologies by securing patents going beyond R&D.

The KIPO plans to establish national IP innovation strategies soon and devote itself to making the nation a technology power house based on IP that does not sway by global technology hegemony.

Q: You marked one year in office as KIPO commissioner as of the end of September. Looking back the past one year, what are things you have fared very well and felt falling short of expectations?

A: The past one year was a tumultuous time when major issues such the full-fledged launching of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the deepening of the U.S.-China trade conflict and Japan’s material and parts export curbs on Korea took place.

They are closely related to the ultimately prior acquisition and protection of intellectual properties, as I feel heavy responsibility as KIPO commissioner.

In my inauguration ceremony, I put forward four policy guidelines: qualitative growth of intellectual properties, reinforced use and protection of IPs and leading international cooperation, I bet that each sector has made achievements thanks to one year of hard work.

The IP sector has seen paradigm shifting from quantitative growth to qualitative one,; job and investment creation through IPs, securing technology supremacy through the protecting of IPs and leading international cooperation and spreading of homegrown regulations.

Above all, we has established a foundation for protecting right intellectual properties as punitive damages took effect on April and judiciary police, assigned with the KIPO, handling patent, business secrets, design violations were inaugurated on the same month.

I remembered memorable moments such as Korea’s hosting the IP5 Meeting in June and exporting homegrown patent administration system to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, thus raising the global standing of our IP administration. It is also significant to have established IP ecosystem innovation strategies designed to build a virtuous cycle of our IP ecosystem in March.

Even though compensation money is raised to up to three times damages in the wake of the enforcement of punitive damages, it is insufficient as the money is determined within production capabilities of patent holders. We’re seeking to overhaul punitive damages so that patent violators would compensate all mounts they have gained from their infringing on IPs.

A revision bill of the Patent Act, proposed by Rep. Park Bum-gye, is pending at the bill deliberation subcommittee of the National Assembly Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee.

Q: What’s your evaluation of the Korean patent market and ecosystem? What do you thinks of the most urgent tasks?

A: Korea has dull dynamics of the IP ecosystem due to insufficient functions and roles of IPs. IPs are not utilized effectively due to IPs’ isolation with industry and technology strategies.

Despite the nation’s standing of a patent powerhouse ranking fourth in the world in terms of patent applications, values of IPs are not properly recognized due to low IP protection and screening levels, which results in the declining IP transaction market and low IP financing. Blockade of industrial use of IPs brings about a vicious cycle of the weakening of the competitiveness of Korean companies’ products and services in the global market.

In order to fix these problems, the KIPO plans to suggest each industry’s future leadership strategies by analyzing about 43,000 cases of parent big data while focusing on enhancing IP values by building a solid, swift deliberation and judgment system for companies and research institutes’ attainment of quality patents and strengthening damage compensations against damages caused by patent violations.

We’re redouble efforts to reform companies and other economic entities so that IPs can be transacted and utilized well by inaugurating a reprocessing body to boost IP asset collateral. The KIPO also focuses on expanding growth potential by offering bigger policy support such as IP-R&D and support for securing overseas patents so that startups and SMEs can grow in the global market based on IPs.

Q: IP capabilities may be directly linked to industry competitiveness in the 4th Industrial Revolution Era. What steps are taken to enhance IP capabilities, particularly offering policy support to raise SMEs and venture companies’ IP capabilities?

A: We’re making all-out efforts to build and expand a policy support platform designed to help SMEs and venture companies grow based on IPs.

On Sept. 9, the KIPO opened a patent mutual aid center in cooperation with Kibo and held a ceremony to announce the release of mutual aid products.

We’re implementing policy projects to strengthen capabilities to create, protect and utilize SMEs and venture companies’ IPs. The KIPO supports strategies to secure core patents using patent big data in the course of the implementation of IP-R&D projects.

We’re offering consulting services to respond to the occurrence of IP disputes and operating 15 overseas IP desks in eight countries to assist in addressing IP difficulties companies experience overseas while striving to expand IP financing by supporting value evaluation fees so that companies can borrow business funds in return for IP collateral.

Q: You’re second year in office as KIPO commissioner. What projects do you attach priority?

A: Technology hegemony is threatening national economies as shown in the U.S.-Chinese and Korea-Japan trade conflicts. Korea needs to secure industry competitiveness and spur innovative startup based on new technologies to overcome the crisis.

The United States, Japan and China are also scrambling to boost industry and economic growth based on IPs. The nation should translate such a crisis into opportunities by securing technologies and patents in promising fields and commercializing them.

To this end, the KIPO plans to ramp up industry and technology competitiveness based on patent big data, create the IP market to spur growth of innovative companies and focus on building infrastructure such as IP protection and screening.

We plan to establish and spread each industry’s innovation plans to suggest growth strategies by analyzing promising technologies using about 400 million cases of patent big data around the world.

We’re trying to boost the IP financing and transaction markets to spur growth of innovative companies by inaugurating a reprocessing body on IP collateral loans while expanding screening structure and manpower to create quality patents and strengthen efforts to protect IPs like the requirement of patent violators to compensate all mounts they have gained from their infringing on IPs.

Q: A stream of new patents on new technology convergence are expected to come out in the full-fledged launch of the 4th Industrial Revolution. How do you make preparations for this trend?

A: The 4th Industrial Revolution is characterized with greater changes with an industrial structure of maxing out connectivity among technologies, but the conventional patent screening and evaluation regime finds it not easy to respond to this effectively.

The KIPO is reinventing its patent screening and evaluation system and structure to offer quality screening services and support innovative innovation in accordance with such industrial structure changes.

We’ve introduced a new patent classification system in 16 technology areas, emerging as core technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution such as AI.

The KIPO has revamped a priority screening system so that patents can be secured swiftly in the technology segments with a shorter cycle of changes. A separate screening and evaluation bureau is to be inaugurated on top of the institutional reform.

We plan to improve the way in which the tentatively named Convergence Technology Bureau, based on a three-person consultation screening, is operated to provide support to creation of quality patents in the convergence technology sector.

The developments of the industry will be reflected on patent screening and evaluation guidelines by maintaining close communications with the industry to elastically respond to the development of technologies.

We plan to make strenuous efforts to help Korean companies lead the 4th Industrial Revolution through prior patent screening and evaluation reform following the UK, which spearhead the 1st Industrial Revolution and the United States, which led the 2nd and 3rd Industrial Revolution.