Patent Office Expands Export of 'K-Intellectual Property Administrative Services' to the Middle East

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is expanding the export of Korean-style intellectual property administrative services to the Middle East.

On the 20th (local time), KIPO Commissioner In-Sil Lee and Abdulla Al Saleh, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), met and agreed to export Korean-style intellectual property administrative services to the UAE, KIPO announced on the 23rd.

Lee In-sil, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (left), is taking a commemorative photo after the "Korea-Saudi Intellectual Property Office Heads Meeting." Photo by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

First, both parties agreed on designing and operating training programs such as an 8-week course for new examiners in the UAE and a 1-week capacity-building course for examiners provided by KIPO.

They also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) including cooperation to strengthen support in areas such as intellectual property support for innovative small and venture companies, efficiency improvement of examination administration using new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), and invention education for children and youth.

So far, South Korea has maintained close cooperative relationships with Middle Eastern countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the field of intellectual property.

Among them, the UAE signed a comprehensive cooperation MOU in 2010 and an MOU for patent examination cooperation in 2014. Since then, KIPO has dispatched 14 examiners to the UAE to conduct patent examinations on its behalf.

Additionally, in 2018, KIPO completed a cooperation project to establish the UAE’s patent information system, continuing exchanges, according to KIPO.

On the 22nd (local time), KIPO Commissioner In-Sil Lee also signed an enhanced cooperation agreement with Abdulaziz ALSWAILEM, Commissioner of the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP), to expand bilateral cooperation in the intellectual property field.

Based on this, the two countries will expand cooperation into five major areas: intellectual property finance, international patent examination, intellectual property education and training, intellectual property ecosystem development, and utilization of patent information.

Previously, KIPO signed a comprehensive cooperation MOU with Saudi Arabia in 2018 and has maintained close cooperation in the intellectual property rights field. Since 2019, KIPO has dispatched 22 domestic public and private experts to SAIP to promote various cooperative projects.

Notably, recently, a KIPO official was hired as a CEO Advisor to the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, providing an opportunity to reflect Korea’s experience and know-how in intellectual property administration in the formulation and implementation of Saudi national intellectual property policies.

Commissioner In-Sil Lee said, “Building on the bilateral meetings with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, KIPO will expand cooperation with Middle Eastern countries such as Oman and Bahrain to widely spread advanced Korean-style intellectual property administration throughout the Middle East.”

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