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.