Government Enhances Overseas Diplomatic Missions' Capabilities to Address Foreign Intellectual Property Rights Infringements

Capacity Building Workshop for Intellectual Property Rights Officers

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 15th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korean Intellectual Property Office jointly held a capacity-building workshop for intellectual property officers at overseas missions in Asia to enable our overseas missions to respond more effectively to intellectual property rights infringements such as trademark and copyright violations of Korean companies operating in the Asian region.

Since 2015, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, has held capacity-building workshops locally for missions in regions with many intellectual property infringement cases affecting Korean companies operating in China, Southeast Asia, and other areas. This year, due to the COVID-19 situation, the workshop was held online.

About 30 participants attended the meeting, including officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the Intellectual Property Committee, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and intellectual property officers from our overseas missions stationed in 22 countries across China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

The government has operated a total of 40 missions as key intellectual property protection missions since 2012 to protect the intellectual property rights of Korean companies overseas. The Korean Intellectual Property Office has established and operates IP-Desks in 15 countries where there is a high risk of intellectual property infringement against Korean companies. The number of intellectual property infringement reports submitted through the IP-Desks increased from 3,735 cases in 2013 to 8,644 cases as of October 2020.

At this workshop, discussions were held on △response guidelines for overseas missions △analysis of overseas intellectual property policies and implications △cooperation measures among headquarters, overseas missions, and related organizations to protect the intellectual property rights of Korean companies operating in Asia. In particular, to meet the demand for expanded support for various intellectual property dispute risks faced by Korean companies, the workshop focused on systematic monitoring and response support measures for overseas intellectual property disputes using the ‘Intellectual Property Dispute Response Center,’ which was launched in November.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, KOTRA, and overseas missions plan to continue strengthening activities to prevent intellectual property infringement of Korean companies operating overseas as much as possible and to respond promptly to any infringements that occur through close cooperation.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "We will distribute the 'Intellectual Property Guide for Overseas Missions,' which includes response methods and cases for protecting the intellectual property rights of Korean companies operating overseas, to all overseas missions, and actively utilize the ‘Intellectual Property Dispute Response Center’ to continue efforts to protect the intellectual property rights of Korean companies operating abroad."

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