Control Tower for the Future Survival
Strategy
( I.P. Daily Newspaper on November
11,2022 )
Myung Shin Kim
Advisor,
The Presidential Council on Intellectual Property
The Presidential Council on Intellectual Property (PCIP) is the
highest advising organization on I.P. under the President, according to the
I.P. Framework Law (IPFL) that came into force in 2011.
The PCIP was established for the effective execution of I.P.
policies because, at that time, thirteen separate Ministries and Agencies
executed I.P. policies. Even now, eleven Ministries and Agencies have submitted
bills for enacting or amending laws on Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to the
National Assembly. Therefore, the PCIP must strengthen its role and
powers.
When the PCIP was established
in 2011, the Prime Minister's Office managed its business. However, the
Ministry of Science, Technology, Information, and Communication now manages the
business of the PCIP. Even though the PCIP is an organization under the President, its
function and role became weak, and the Ministers concerned no longer attend
meetings because the President has no significant concerns about I.P. policies.
These days, advanced technology has
become a critical security issue due to the political and economic conflict
between the U.S. and China. We live in the digital economy era in which
the value addition is maximized as a result of a combination between science,
technology, culture and art. Although our natural resources are
few, fortunately, we have a relatively high educational level.
In this environment, we very much
need a control tower for setting up our future survival strategy. Further,
we need to increase the budget of the PCIP and strengthen its role to
adjust the policies between the Ministries and Agencies concerned.
Nevertheless, the Presidential Office
announced that the PCIP will belong to the Prime Minister.
I understand that the number of
Committees belonging to the President is too much, and some must be transferred
to the Prime Minister or the Ministries concerned. Further, I agree that
because the Prime Minister is in charge of fifty-one Committees, some must be
transferred to each Ministry. But Mr. Sang Jo Jong, chairperson of the
PCIP, resigned because the function and role of the PCIP will be weakened.
I led the fight for the enaction of the
IPFL, and now, am deeply concerned that the PCIP, which sets up our future
survival strategy, will be transferred to the Prime Minister as one of the
fifty-one Committees because we must prepare a more active policy for K-pop,
cinema, drama, the defense industry, software, computer games, fashion, sport,
semi-conductors, shipbuilding, automobiles,
cosmetics, etc., which are our primary export goods.
In June 2022, the International
Management Development Institute in Switzerland announced the evaluation report
on I.P. Policy Execution among 64 countries worldwide. Korea ranked in
thirty-seventh place. Referring to these statistics, we must set up a
new I.P. Ministry which deals with industrial property and copyright matters
together to bring a synergy effect in the execution of I.P. policies, similar
to those in the U.K., Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Thailand, Singapore,
Hungary, and Luxembourg.
Very recently, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis
began preparing a bill for integrating the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and
the U.S. Copyright Office. Further, the Korean Federation of Intellectual
Property Societies, the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, Mr. Nak Yeon
Lee, Mr. Sye Kyun Chung (former Prime Ministers and former Chairpersons of the
PCIP), Mr. Jong Yong Yoon and Mr. Sang Jo Jong (former Chairpersons of the
PCIP) have supported to set up a new I.P. Ministry.
Finally, I hope that a new I.P. Ministry will deal with all
kinds of I.P. matters in order for Korea to survive under the intense
international brain war while the
President shows much greater concerns about I.P.
