KIPO Leads ASEAN Intellectual Property Ecosystem Development at Korea-China-Japan IP Offices Meeting

Commissioner Kim Yong-rae of the Korean Intellectual Property Office is holding a video conference on the 14th with Shen Changwei, Commissioner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (left screen), and Toshihide Kastani, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (right screen). Photo by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 2nd that it recently held the "20th Korea-China-Japan Intellectual Property Office Heads Meeting" via video conference at the InterContinental COEX Hotel in Seoul.

The trilateral meeting of the heads of the three countries' intellectual property offices has been held since 2001, aiming at exchanging patent examination information and harmonizing patent systems.

Over the past 20 years, each country has held expert meetings in six cooperation areas including patents and informatization, cooperating to strengthen intellectual property protection so that applicants can acquire intellectual property rights early and have their acquired rights guaranteed.

As a result, among the world's patent filing countries, the share of filings by Korea, China, and Japan increased from 40% in 2001 to 60% currently, and during the same period, the share of trademark filings also showed a remarkable increase from 10% to 60%.

In particular, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the trilateral cooperation, adding significance. Accordingly, the three countries plan to jointly respond to situations such as digital transformation and the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and improve trilateral examination systems and practices to create and protect innovative technologies.

Furthermore, by enhancing accessibility and utilization of patent information held by each country, they aim to promote technological development and innovative growth among the three countries, and to advance intellectual property cooperation beyond Korea, China, and Japan to the ASEAN region, contributing to closing the intellectual property gap with ASEAN.

KIPO emphasized the significance of this year's heads meeting being the first held after the final signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which Korea, China, and Japan joined on the 15th of last month, and that it was arranged as a forum for the three countries' intellectual property offices to discuss ASEAN cooperation.

RCEP includes as many as 83 intellectual property provisions, and for ASEAN countries to implement them, a major revision of their national intellectual property laws is essential. However, ASEAN countries with weak intellectual property infrastructure inevitably spend much time and effort on legal revisions.

Therefore, Korea, China, and Japan have decided to promote "Korea-China-Japan + ASEAN Intellectual Property Cooperation" to support ASEAN's intellectual property law revisions and system introductions, and plan to concretize discussions through subsequent working-level consultations.

Kim Yong-rae, Commissioner of KIPO, stated, "Through cooperation and competition among the three countries' intellectual property offices, we will strive to make Asia the world's most intellectual property-friendly innovation ecosystem."

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