Establishment of new Korean I.P. Office and Adoption
of Copyright Law as Essential Subject of Subjective Examination
for Patent Attorneys
(Contribution to the newspaper 'Patent &
Trademark' published on January 5, 2022.)
Myung-Shin Kim
Adviser of the Korean Patent Attorneys
Association
1. The
Background of the Times
The technology of mobile communication, the
internet, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, etc.,has
been developing rapidly. Today, we are in a digital revolution era.
2. Birth
of the Federation of I.P.Societies
When setting up policies on industrial property and
copyright matters, if we regard them separately,we cannot expect synergy and
efficiency of the policy. In April 4, 2017, Dr. Sang- Hee Rhee together with me
held an inaugural assembly of Korean Federation of I.P.Societies, inviting
representatives of 64 associations on industrial property and
copyright at Grand Conference Hall of the National Assembly. As a
result of this momentum, in October, 2020, the Federation of I.P.Societies
formed a juristic organization which was approved by the Ministry of
Science, Technology, Information,and Communication, like the Korean Federation
of Science and Technology Societies, and the Korean Federation
of Arts Organization.
3. Establishment
Campaign of A New Korean I.P.Office
Since 1996,I have written many
articles to various daily newspapers that one governmental office
must handle industrial property and copy right matters.
In 2020,the International Institute for Management
Development in Switzerland reported an evaluation on policy enforcement of
63 countries throughout the world. According to this report, the Research and
Development (R&D) investment ratio to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Korea
ranked 2nd,and the Korea's number of patent applications ranked 4th.However,the
efficiency on I.P.policy enforcement of the Korean government ranked 34th.
Mr. Nak-yeon Lee and Mr. Sye-kyun Chung, both
former Prime Ministers and who served as Chairpersons of the
Presidential Council on I.P., announced a policy proposal as Presidential
candidates to let a new Korean I.P.Office handle industrial property and copyright
matters together, after amending the Korean Government Organization Law.
On July 7, 2021, I wrote a contribution to daily
Joongang Newspaper entitled 'We need
an Integrated Control Tower to handle I.P.Matters'.
On September 29, 2021,the Federation of
I.P.Societies held a seminar on the Strategy of I.P.Policy. In this
seminar, Dr. Kwang-Hyung Lee and Dr. Sung-Pil Park, professors of the
Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) strongly
recommended setting up a new Korean I.P.Office
that handles industrial property and copyright matters together
and introducing I.P.Secretary system at the Presidential House.
Further, on October 20, 2021, Mr. Sang-Jo Jung, present
Chairperson of the Presidential Council on I.P., agreed the
necessity of a new Korean I.P.Office in an interview with E-News 24.
On November 4, 2021, at the seminar on the Vision
of I.P.Policy, held by I.P.Forum, the Korean I.P.Research Society, AI Data
Center of Inha University, and World Patent Hub Nation Promotion
Committee of the National Assembly at Science and Technology Hall, Dr. Won-Oh
Kim, professor, Law School of Inha University and Dr. Tae-Ho Chung, professor of
Kyunggi University also proposed the setting up a new Korean
I.P.Office.
On November 19, 2021, at the ceremony for my
memoirs' publication at the Korean Patent Attorneys Association's
Hall, I stressed the necessity of setting up a new Korean I.P.Office.
After that, on December 21,2021,at another seminar
on the Policy Forum of Engineering Technology at Kensington Hotel in
Seoul, the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) announced
as their policy proposal that in light of importance of intellectual property administration
in a digital economy era, we need to set up a new Korean I.P.
Office,to change the head of Presidential Council on I.P.to the
President and to establish I.P.Secretary system at
the Presidential House.
NAEK has published this policy proposal every
five years before the Presidential Election after
collecting opinions from about 1,200 members. NAEK is composed of great scholars
in engineering fields, top-level managers and chief technology
officers of enterprises, and representatives of research institutes.
With this background, I think it is clear that we
need to establish a new Korean I.P. Office that is a Cabinet member
class Minister to set up a long-term visionary strategy regarding AI, Climate
Convention and Cryptocurrency, etc. As precedents in foreign countries, the
U.K.,Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, Belgium, Hungary, and Thailand have
I.P.Offices that handle industrial property and copyright matters together.
4. Lawsuit
relating to Intellectual Property
To overcome the difficulty of evidence
collection in I.P.lawsuit,we must adopt Korean -style discovery
system. The court jurisdiction on I.P.criminal suits and business personal
suits must be identical with industrial property cases. Further, if a
party concerned would want, patent attorneys must be legal attorneys in addition to
the lawyers at law.
5. The
Essential Subject of Subjective Examination for Patent Attorneys
Today, we are in a digital economy era. Considering
the background regarding the establishment of the Federation of
I.P.societies and the campaign for a new Korean I.P.Office, the
copyright law should be the essential subject of
subjective examination for patent attorneys, even though the
copyright law was a selective subject of subjective
examination until now.
As such, patent attorneys must handle
cases of copyright law, seed industry law, customs law, computer
program protection law, law on the internet address and resources, law on
the unfair competition prevention and trade secret protection, semiconductor
integrated circuit layout design law, agricultural and marine
products quality control law, law on the investigation
of unfair international trade and relief of livelihood, law on the
promotion of technology transfer and commercialization, and
pharmaceutical affairs law, etc.
6. Promotion
Plan
On December 8, 2021, the Standing Council of the
Korean Patent Attorneys Association (KPAA) supported the adoption
of copyright law as an essential subject of subjective examination for
patent attorneys. From now on, if the Delegate General Assembly and General
Assembly of KPAA would also support this issue, then we can
recommend to the Commissioner of Korean I.P.Office (KIPO) to review
our proposal. If KIPO accepts our proposal, KIPO should amend the
Presidential Decree of Patent Attorney Law. In this case, in
order to prevent inconvenience to examinees, I recommend giving
a one year grace period after amending the Presidential Decree. This
promotion plan originated from our experience adopting the Civil Procedure
Code as an essential subject of subjective examination for patent
attorneys.
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