Patent Office Eases Loan Burden for Patent Mutual Aid Companies... Increasing Trend of Mutual Aid Enrollment

Main Contents of Patent Pool Products. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is introducing a loan product that reduces the loan burden for companies enrolled in the Patent Mutual Aid. Since its introduction last year, the Patent Mutual Aid has steadily increased the number of participating companies.

On the 26th, KIPO announced that it will launch a loan product specialized for companies enrolled in the mutual aid through the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, the entrusted operator of the Patent Mutual Aid project.

The loan products, consisting of Intellectual Property Expense Loans and Management Fund Loans, will be available starting from the 27th. Eligible applicants for this year’s loan products include 1,302 companies that joined the Patent Mutual Aid last year and have accumulated contributions for 12 installments (monthly payments) or more.

Previously, KIPO introduced the Patent Mutual Aid in August last year. During the past year, due to the nature of the mutual aid operating based on companies’ accumulated contributions, it attracted participating companies with a contribution product similar to a bank savings plan before providing loans.

However, the newly launched loan products are expected to play a significant role in reducing the loan burden by reflecting the characteristics of companies enrolled in the mutual aid.

For example, the Intellectual Property Expense Loan allows companies to borrow up to five times their accumulated contributions at an interest rate of 1.75% to cover costs related to overseas patent and trademark applications, domestic and international patent rights, and intellectual property-related trials and litigations, with subsequent installment repayments.

Additionally, the Management Fund Loan is operated by lending up to 90% of the accumulated contributions at an interest rate of 3.25% for urgent management funds.

Neither product charges any prepayment penalties.

In particular, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, KIPO enables companies wishing to apply for loans to complete all procedures, including loan applications and agreements, through a non-face-to-face mutual aid system without visiting the Korea Technology Finance Corporation’s branches, providing a one-stop service.

For more detailed information about the Patent Mutual Aid loan products, please refer to the Patent Mutual Aid System website.

Park Ho-hyung, Director of Industrial Property Policy at KIPO, said, “We hope that the Patent Mutual Aid loan products will become a reliable support for small and medium-sized enterprises facing difficulties due to intellectual property disputes in domestic and international markets.”

Meanwhile, the number of companies enrolled in the Patent Mutual Aid increased to 1,409 within about four months after the product launch on August 29 last year. In the first half of this year, an additional 1,966 companies joined, bringing the total to 3,375 companies currently enrolled in the Patent Mutual Aid.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.