S. Korea to accelerate post-virus recovery with intellectual property

South Korea’s plans to develop its digital intellectual property system this year will be the driving force behind the post-coronavirus pandemic recovery, the nation’s IP office said.

In its 2021 policy plan announced Thursday, the Korean Intellectual Property Office revealed 10 tasks under four key strategies that would give impetus to South Korea’s road to a digital economy and recovery. The four strategies are: development of a new digital intellectual property system, expansion of intellectual property data access, helping growth of local firms through intellectual property-related support and improved intellectual property protection.

KIPO plans to upgrade intellectual property protection laws to shield artificial intelligence creations, data and other new digital technologies from the latest forms of theft, a part of its efforts to overhaul its system through a “digital perspective.” A trade strategy will be drawn up as well -- based on existing global agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership -- in line with changes brought on by digitalization to the global trade environment.

To expand usage of intellectual property data and improve its access, KIPO highlighted the need to improve access to such a system in the research and development sector. A connection between intellectual property and private sector data and analysis of data tied to brand and design would be utilized to accelerate intellectual property data usage across industries. A comprehensive platform that would allow users to analyze such all-around data is slated to be developed and released to the public.

KIPO has chosen support of local businesses through intellectual property-related aid as a main goal and plans to boost their related finance and business transactions. Help will be provided to the firms in acquiring funds for overseas intellectual property rights, the launch of a system to protect them in disputes over intellectual property rights and strengthened monitoring of related theft and violations. To foster related manpower, local universities would be selected to adopt intellectual property programs.

The protection of intellectual property, which remains a major issue for both businesses and related offices, will be further legally and systematically improved. Heavier punishments for business and idea theft would be implemented and the development of a local investigation system will be jointly pursued.

“We have arrived at a time where a change in the nation’s IP policy should be adopted to counter a swift transition into digitalization and intensifying competition of global technologies,” KIPO’s deputy head Kim Yong-sun said in a statement.

“We vow to contribute to the nation‘s economic recovery in the post-virus era by improving the IP system digitalwise in line with government policies such as the Digital New Deal and bolstering IP protection and its strategic usage,” he added.

By Jung Min-kyung & Lee Kwon-hyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)  (kwonhl@heraldcorp.com)