[Column] "A Bottomless Jar"... Weak Management of Public Intellectual Property Revealed in Lee Jong-ho Hearing

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] On the 3rd, Lee Jong-ho, the nominee for Minister of Science and ICT, passed the National Assembly confirmation hearing. As he himself said, being a 'lifelong scholar devoted solely to work and research,' there were no major obstacles. However, what stands out more than personal issues is the problem of the government's poor management of public intellectual property rights revealed in the process of Lee's wealth accumulation.

During his time as a professor at Wonkwang University in 2001, Lee jointly conducted a research project with KAIST, funded by tens of billions of won of national funds, and invented the semiconductor circuit integration technology called 'Bulk FinFET.' Originally, the patent rights for research results supported by government funds are supposed to belong to the affiliated institutions, not individuals. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the patent rights for Bulk FinFET should belong to KAIST and Wonkwang University. However, for unknown reasons, the two institutions only filed for domestic patents and abandoned overseas patent rights. Lee personally filed and obtained the overseas patents that these two institutions gave up, and together with an intellectual property management company, he has been filing lawsuits against semiconductor companies, acquiring enormous wealth. The income revealed so far through this confirmation hearing amounts to about 16 billion won. Recently, after winning a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics, additional income worth hundreds of billions of won is expected.

Lee is the key contributor to the development of Bulk FinFET technology. No one would blame his 'luck' or 'insight' in securing the overseas patent rights. Even for public intellectual property rights, it is natural to recognize individual contributions. Researchers who demonstrate outstanding talent, knowledge, and creativity and achieve top results deserve special rewards. When he invented Bulk FinFET technology, companies like Samsung Electronics initially ignored it, but as advanced integrated circuit technology became necessary, it became essential to the semiconductor industry. The reason the Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal and the U.S. District Court in Texas ruled in favor of Lee in the patent royalty payment lawsuit against Samsung Electronics is known to be due to recognition of his efforts, originality, and creativity.

The problem lies with frontline research institutions that have lost enormous national revenue due to negligence, indifference, and incompetence in management, as in this case. If KAIST or Wonkwang University had paid even a little attention to intellectual property management and filed for overseas patents, they could have recovered several tens of times the invested national funds and used them in other fields. South Korea currently invests the highest amount of public funds in research and development (R&D) relative to its gross domestic product (GDP) worldwide. Nearly 30 trillion won of national funds are invested annually, producing tens of thousands of patents and other public intellectual properties. However, due to indifference to utilization and management, the recovery rate is extremely low. As of 2019, income from public technology transfers was 227.314 billion won, only 1.73% of the total investment of about 13.7 trillion won. No matter how important basic science investment and guaranteeing research autonomy and creativity are, this level is like a 'leaky jar.'

After passing this confirmation hearing, if Lee is officially appointed, he will become the overall head of the administration managing the nation's public intellectual property rights. He must also pay attention to boosting morale and guaranteeing autonomy at research sites. However, greater efforts are needed to improve the efficiency of publicly funded research and to expand national finances through the management and utilization of public intellectual property rights resulting from such research.

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