Patent Office Promotes Establishment of 'Basic Plan' for Preventing Technology Leakage and Protecting Trade Secrets

Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is set to establish a basic plan for preventing technology leakage and protecting trade secrets.

KIPO announced on the 23rd that it will hold the launch ceremony of the "Task Force for Establishing the Basic Plan for Preventing Unfair Competition and Protecting Trade Secrets" (hereinafter referred to as the Task Force) at the L Tower in Seoul.

The basic plan is being prepared to eradicate new types of unfair competition acts that did not previously exist, such as blocking technology and trade secret leaks and unauthorized use of data, in accordance with the recently amended and enforced Unfair Competition Prevention Act.

The newly launched Task Force is chaired by KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung and consists of over 30 private sector members from industry, academia, and the legal community. The members will work in three subcommittees focusing on technology protection, prevention of unfair competition, and digital and international cooperation.

First, the Technology Protection Subcommittee will be responsible for protection measures for key national technologies and preventing leaks of personnel and trade secrets.

The Unfair Competition Prevention Subcommittee will handle traditional unfair competition acts such as form imitation and counterfeit goods, as well as regulation of new types of unfair competition acts. The Digital and International Cooperation Subcommittee will focus on core topics such as unauthorized use of data in digital environments, new types of intellectual property infringements, and trade strategies from the perspective of technology security, aiming to establish the basic plan.

The Task Force plans to prepare the "Basic Plan for Preventing Unfair Competition and Protecting Trade Secrets" this year and, after consultations with related ministries, ensure that the plan can be fully implemented starting next year.

Kim Yong-rae, Commissioner of KIPO, said, "The basic plan will serve as a cornerstone for raising the level of domestic intellectual property protection in the future," adding, "We will strive to complete an effective basic plan through policy suggestions from expert members across various fields and in-depth discussions."

KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung, who chairs the Task Force, emphasized, "The best strategy to prepare for the future is to be armed with 'solid intellectual property,'" and added, "It is also an important task to prevent and protect intellectual property from being infringed by third parties' free riding."

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