Patent Office Recruiting 39 'Semiconductor Veteran Retirees'

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is recruiting 39 semiconductor-specialized patent examiners. The strategy is to hire veteran retirees from the semiconductor field as examiners to prevent the leakage of core personnel and technology overseas and to secure national competitiveness in the semiconductor sector.

According to KIPO on the 7th, the recruitment of semiconductor-specialized patent examiners will proceed with application submissions from the 18th to the 25th of this month, followed by document screening and interviews, with new appointments scheduled for early January next year. The final successful candidates will be announced in December this year.

Applicants must have experience and degrees related to semiconductor technology. Practical experience and expertise in specific semiconductor fields will be prioritized during the selection process.

The recruitment fields are subdivided into ▲ semiconductor design ▲ semiconductor manufacturing process ▲ semiconductor post-process ▲ semiconductor substrate transfer devices and processing devices ▲ display materials ▲ OLED process and devices ▲ display specialized technologies.

For more detailed information regarding the recruitment, refer to the announcement published on the KIPO website and the Ministry of Personnel Management's Nara Work website on the 7th.

Earlier, in March, KIPO hired 30 private-sector experts as semiconductor-specialized patent examiners. This month's recruitment is the second round, made possible by positive evaluations of the examiners hired in the first round, who have been playing a constructive role in semiconductor patent examination based on their experience and expertise accumulated in the private sector.

The private experts hired in the first round are currently assigned to various departments within KIPO's Semiconductor Examination Promotion Team according to their respective specialties and practical experience. Their main roles include priority examination of advanced technologies in the semiconductor field and collaboration with existing examiners through a three-person consultation examination system.

The recruitment of semiconductor-specialized patent examiners has led to tangible results such as an increase in the number of examinations processed and prevention of core personnel and technology leakage overseas.

First, from January to June this year, the number of semiconductor-related examinations processed by KIPO totaled 11,163, a 15.4% increase compared to 9,676 during the same period last year. Considering that the hired private experts began their practical activities from March, this represents a sharp increase in the number of examinations processed.

In particular, hiring private experts as examiners has been highly effective in preventing the overseas leakage of specialized personnel and technology. According to KIPO's internal survey, among the 30 first-round hires, 22 responded that before entering public service through KIPO, they had received job offers from overseas companies or had considered moving abroad.

However, upon hearing about KIPO's recruitment of specialized patent examiners, they decided to forgo overseas job changes and enter public service domestically.

According to field officials, the background of this decision involved a complex interplay of concerns about suspected technology leakage (negative) simply due to overseas job changes, even if no actual leakage occurred, and hope (positive) for designing a second career in public service.

Lee In-sil, Commissioner of KIPO, stated, “Hiring veteran retirees from the semiconductor industry as specialized examiners will be the strongest means to support the government's efforts to secure a 'super-gap' in the semiconductor industry.” He added, “We ask for many applications from technology experts with rich practical experience so that their accumulated experience and know-how can be fully utilized in public service.”

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