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November 2017
November 2017KIPO announces “IP Policy Directions for the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”
The Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (“KIPO”), Yunmo Sung, announced “Intellectual Property Policy Directions for the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution” on November 1, 2017. The plan is to create jobs by creation and protection of strong intellectual property (“IP”) and construction of a virtuous IP cycle platform for use in the industry.
1. Securing Sufficient Manpower for Patent Examination
In order to secure better quality of patent examination, the time spent on patent examination will be optimized to 20 hours per case by 2020, which is on a par with more economically developed countries, from the average of 11 hours per case based on the 2016 data. For this purpose, the plan is to increase the patent examination manpower by 1000 more examiners.
2. Reduction of Invalidation Rate from the Patent Invalidation Trial
From 2019, the entire official fees for patent registration and maintenance already paid to KIPO will be refunded if the patent is invalidated by the patent invalidation trial. Currently, only the portion of the patent maintenance fees corresponding to the years following the date on which the patent invalidation decision becomes final and conclusive is refunded. Considering that the number of cases of invalidation of patent/utility model/design, etc. is around 740, the amount of refund is estimated to be around $ 400,000 USD per year.
The goal is to lower the invalidation rate from the patent invalidation trial from 49.1% in 2016 to 33.0% by 2022. To this end, an “advance notice of invalidation trial decision system,” through which the patent administrative judge can notify the patentee of the adverse result of an impending decision from the invalidation trial in advance for an opportunity for the patentee to make amendments to the claims, will be placed in motion by 2020, and a “trial researcher system” will be introduced in 2018.
3. Introduction of Punitive Damages System (Max. Treble Damages)
An amendment to the Korean Patent Act in 2018 is planned to introduce punitive damages system allowing up to treble damages in case of a willful infringement of patent rights.
4. Preferential Examination for Key Technology for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
A preferential examination system for key technology related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be introduced to support early vesting of rights for fundamental and core patents. To prevent vacuum of intellectual property protection in new technologies in particular, IP-related laws and systems will be modified by 2020. The current intellectual property laws limit invention to that created by a human being only, but active responses to invention by an artificial intelligence (“AI”) and disputes regarding infringement through creation of electronic file and transfer will be forthcoming.
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