Patent Office "Supporting Dedicated Secondary Battery Examination 'Package'... Assisting in Securing Super-Gap"

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has completed a dedicated examination team package for the secondary battery sector. It is expected that rapid rights acquisition through prioritized examination will enable support for a super-gap in national strategic technologies.

On the 13th, KIPO announced the launch of a newly established dedicated patent examination team for secondary batteries. The dedicated team has been expanded from one division with 45 personnel before the reorganization to three divisions with 83 personnel.

Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

The dedicated team was formed by creating two new divisions and reorganizing one division, comprising the ▲Secondary Battery Materials Examination Division ▲Secondary Battery Design Examination Team ▲Secondary Battery Control and Management Examination Team to support examinations aligned with the entire lifecycle of the secondary battery technology ecosystem.

Among the personnel assigned to these divisions, 45 are existing KIPO examiners specializing in the secondary battery field, while the remaining 38 are professional fixed-term patent examiners recruited from the private sector.

KIPO expects that by establishing the dedicated secondary battery examination team through this organizational restructuring, rapid rights acquisition will be possible, enabling stable protection of technologies related to secondary batteries.

Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

Secondary battery technology is the power source for electric vehicles in the carbon-neutral era and a key driver for next-generation national industrial development. In Korea, it is evaluated as an important asset alongside semiconductors. Among domestic companies, LG Energy Solution, SK On, and Samsung SDI are standing out in the global market.

As interest and competition among major countries regarding secondary battery technology intensify, patent applications related to this technology are also increasing significantly. Over the past five years, domestic secondary battery patent applications have risen from 8,777 in 2019, 9,451 in 2020, 10,899 in 2021, 12,697 in 2022, to 14,396 in 2023.

As of last year, domestic applicants accounted for 11,390 applications, representing 79.1% of the total, while foreign applicants accounted for 3,006 applications, or 20.9%, indicating active patent filing by domestic entities in the secondary battery field.

With fierce competition among countries in the secondary battery sector, corporate demand for expedited examination services has also increased. Fast and accurate (high-quality) examination has been required to timely secure related patent rights and expand technological gaps.

This is precisely the reason why KIPO has newly launched the dedicated secondary battery patent examination team.

Ko Young-min, KIPO’s Planning and Coordination Officer, stated, “With the implementation of the prioritized examination system in the secondary battery field, the recruitment of private sector expert examiners, and the establishment of a dedicated examination team, the dedicated examination team package for the secondary battery field has been completed. KIPO will continue efforts to support securing super-gaps in national strategic technologies such as bio and artificial intelligence in consultation with related ministries.”

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