KIPO Prioritizes Semiconductor Patents... Examination Period Shortened from 12 Months to 2 Months

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) will provide comprehensive patent support, including priority examination of patents in the semiconductor industry sector.

KIPO announced on the 24th that it will make all-out efforts to secure key patents in this industry in line with the national-level support for the semiconductor industry.

The support will focus on ▲ expedited examination of semiconductor patents ▲ manpower management support for key inventors ▲ patent big data analysis of core technologies, aiming to maintain South Korea's semiconductor super-gap through proactive administration.

Expedited examination will be applied when patent applications related to semiconductors are received, helping to accelerate patent acquisition.

To this end, KIPO plans to amend the Enforcement Decree of the Patent Act to include patent applications related to advanced technologies such as semiconductors in the priority examination category. After a legislative notice next month, the amendment will undergo review by the Ministry of Government Legislation and be submitted to the Cabinet meeting in September, with the revised decree expected to be promulgated and enforced in October.

Typically, the patent examination period takes about 12.7 months, but with priority examination applied, KIPO expects the semiconductor patent examination period to be drastically shortened to about 2.5 months.

Inventor information in patent applications will also be used to support manpower management in the semiconductor industry. By analyzing inventor information of semiconductor patents, KIPO will identify key personnel by field and changes in the average age of inventors, suggesting priority areas needed in the manpower development process.

Additionally, retired researchers from core technology fields such as semiconductors will be utilized in patent examination to prevent technology leakage caused by their overseas employment and to enhance efficiency by leveraging their on-site expertise in securing key patents in the semiconductor sector.

KIPO will also analyze patent big data of global semiconductor companies competing with domestic firms to gauge future technology development directions and suggest R&D fields that South Korea should preemptively pursue, contributing to strategic planning in the domestic semiconductor industry sector.

Lee In-sil, Commissioner of KIPO, said, “The core of competitiveness in the semiconductor industry is technological innovation, and patents serve as a kind of registration system that can secure rights for technology. We will spare no effort to support the domestic semiconductor industry to stand tall in the international community by securing key patents, which are the finishing touch in the competition for technological hegemony.”

Meanwhile, the number of domestic patent applications in the semiconductor field showed an average annual increase of 3.2%, with 39,059 applications in 2019, 39,913 in 2020, and 41,636 in 2021.

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