Patent Trial 'Gukseon Daeriin' Established On-site... "A Strong Support for Small Business Owners"

The system of court-appointed patent trial agents has taken root in the field, serving as a strong support for socially vulnerable groups such as small business owners.

According to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the Korean Intellectual Property Office on the 30th, the number of cases appointing court-appointed agents in patent trials increased by an average of 38% annually from 2020 to 2022, and the satisfaction score of users who appointed court-appointed agents averaged 86.7 points.

The court-appointed patent trial agent appointment system was introduced and operated from July 2019 to support the appointment of agents for socially and economically disadvantaged parties without representatives among the parties involved in patent trial cases.

The appointed court-appointed agents perform representation duties in patent, utility model, new design, trademark, and design-related trial cases, with the main support targets being recipients of the National Basic Livelihood Security, small enterprises, persons with disabilities, and young entrepreneurs.

Since the introduction of the court-appointed agent appointment system, the number of appointments per year has been increasing, with 11 cases in 2019, 21 cases in 2020, 23 cases in 2021, 40 cases in 2022, and 6 cases as of March 2023.

Status data on win rates when using the court-appointed attorney system. Provided by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board

In particular, a satisfaction survey conducted on users of the system whose cases were concluded after appointing court-appointed agents (a cumulative total of 101 cases, with 53 cases concluded) showed an average score of 98.3 points for winning cases and 74.1 points for losing cases.

The average satisfaction score regardless of win or loss was 86.7 points, which the Patent Trial and Appeal Board interprets as evidence that the patent attorneys serving as court-appointed agents are diligently representing the trial cases.

Moreover, the practical effect of appointing court-appointed agents is remarkable. For example, among the 101 cases where court-appointed agents were appointed, the win rate for the 53 concluded cases was 52.8%, which is more than 2.5 times higher than the 21.0% win rate for cases conducted without agents during the same period.

Above all, in the user status of the court-appointed agent system, 91 out of 101 cases (90.1%) were small enterprises, 5 cases (5%) were national merit recipients, and 2 cases (2%) were medium-sized enterprises, indicating a high utilization rate by small enterprises, which are relatively vulnerable, thus enhancing the significance of the system’s introduction and utilization.

In cases where court-appointed agents were appointed to conduct patent trials, the distribution by right type showed that the trademark field was the largest with 61 cases (60.4%), followed by patents and utility models with 21 cases (20.8%), and designs with 19 cases (18.8%).

Status data on users and distribution by rights of the court-appointed attorney system. Provided by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board

The survey also confirmed that cases using court-appointed agents overwhelmingly involved respondents.

This suggests that small enterprises, which are relatively vulnerable in dispute response, are fully utilizing the court-appointed agent system as a kind of defense mechanism to respond to disputes raised by the opposing party in the trademark field.

Based on these survey results, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board plans to expand the pool of court-appointed agents (patent attorneys) and strengthen support capabilities for appointing court-appointed agents, focusing on the trademark field where the system is frequently used.

Park Yong-ju, Director of the Trial Policy Division at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, said, “We will further activate the court-appointed agent system in patent trials as a safeguard to protect the intellectual property of socially and economically vulnerable groups.”

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