Medium-sized Enterprises Association "Industrial Property Rights, Acquisition Fees and Annual Registration Fees Are a Heavy Burden"

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] It has been revealed that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) feel the greatest burden from acquisition fees and annual registration fees in the process of acquiring and utilizing industrial property rights.

According to the 'SME Industrial Property Rights Survey' conducted on 300 SMEs holding industrial property rights by the Korea Federation of SMEs on the 21st, SMEs spent an average of 5.74 million KRW on application and examination fees and 1.31 million KRW annually on maintenance costs.

The biggest reasons for acquiring industrial property rights were found to be 'protection of technology to prevent patent disputes (69%)' and 'utilizing technology level promotion to pioneer sales channels (57.3%)'.

Regarding difficulties experienced in the process of acquiring and utilizing industrial property rights, the largest proportion answered 'burden of acquisition fees and annual registration fees' (58.3%). This was followed by 'long examination periods' (57%) and 'complexity of procedures for acquiring rights' (28%).

Company A, an LED lighting parts manufacturer in Incheon holding 23 patents, stated, "In the 1st to 3rd years, the annual maintenance cost is about 100,000 KRW; from the 4th to 9th years, about 300,000 KRW annually; and from the 10th to 20th years, about 1 million KRW annually. The structure is such that the longer the business history and the more patents held, the greater the cost burden."

Company B, a medical device manufacturer with 40 years of business history, said, "Until 3 to 4 years ago, using the priority examination system, patent registration was possible within one year, but nowadays it takes two years. To secure export competitiveness, we used to deliberately acquire industrial property rights related to products before attending overseas exhibitions, but the longer examination period has caused setbacks."

In the case of general examination for industrial property rights, except for design rights, all take more than one year, and over 50% evaluated that the acquisition period for such industrial property rights is inappropriate. Company C, a computer equipment manufacturer with over 20 years of business history, said, "Due to the nature of supplying to public institutions frequently, we acquire industrial property rights to receive additional points, but the recent lengthening of examination periods has made it difficult to secure sales channels."

The utilization rate of government support policies was low at 26%. The main reasons for not utilizing them were 'complex support procedures and strict eligibility criteria' (35.1%) and 'wanting to use them but not knowing which institution to use' (34.7%). Company B, the medical device manufacturer, expressed difficulties, saying, "We are currently in a patent dispute with a foreign company, but the government support project scale is only 20 million KRW and the support period is just about five months. We have already used all the support funds, and since the dispute cannot be resolved within five months, we will have to respond alone from now on, which is very daunting."

Yang Chan-hoe, Head of the Innovation Growth Headquarters at the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, "Industrial property rights are essential for technology protection and sales channel development, so government efforts to expand support for acquisition and maintenance costs and shorten examination periods are necessary. It is imperative to significantly increase the absolutely insufficient number of examiners and enhance examination quality to protect industrial technology and improve national competitiveness."

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