"Enforcement of the Industrial Property Information Act Enables Strategic Use of Patent Information"

A path has been opened to strategically utilize 580 million patent information records worldwide. Patent information is expected to be used for preventing technology leaks related to national security and for establishing efficient industrial property strategies.

On the 6th, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that the "Act on the Management and Promotion of Utilization of Industrial Property Information" (hereinafter referred to as the Industrial Property Information Act) has been enacted and will be enforced.

Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

The Industrial Property Information Act covers the collection, creation, maintenance, management, and overall utilization of industrial property information. The enforcement begins on the 7th of this month. The Act was established with a broad framework including ▲ provision of industrial property information for national security and prevention of technology leaks ▲ analysis and utilization of industrial property information for technology and industrial support ▲ and the establishment of a patent information infrastructure.

Patent information (including trademark and design information) is classified as core information that can be strategically utilized to prevent redundant research and development (R&D), analyze major issues related to industry, economy, and security, and support the formulation of national policies and corporate management strategies.

KIPO has expanded the scale of patent information holdings to 480 million records in 2020, 530 million in 2022, and 580 million in 2023.

However, despite securing a vast amount of patent information, there had been limitations in actively utilizing it due to the lack of legal grounds for its use.

The Industrial Property Information Act was enacted and enforced to resolve these limitations. With the enforcement of this law, it will be possible to establish cooperative systems among agencies to prevent technology leaks related to national security. This means that government agencies can actively engage in technology protection by providing analysis results of patent information under application to national administrative agencies.

Previously, only published patent data that had passed 18 months after application could be used, making it difficult to analyze the latest technologies and provide related information to other agencies. However, KIPO expects that with the enforcement of the Industrial Property Information Act, it will be possible to respond immediately to urgent matters related to technology security.

Another expected effect is the increased efficiency in establishing industrial property strategies through the big datafication of patent information.

Based on the Industrial Property Information Act, KIPO can now big datafy patent information and collect and maintain patent information including inventor disclosure information of domestic companies and researchers.

This is expected to enable KIPO to process and analyze patent information to timely grasp global technology trends, prevent redundant research, and support the establishment of efficient industrial property strategies.

In line with the enforcement of the Industrial Property Information Act, KIPO plans to establish a basic plan within this year for the utilization of industrial property information, encompassing data discovery and maintenance for strategic analysis and utilization of patent information, prevention and protection against technology leaks, and support for the use of industrial property information.

Lee In-su, Director of the Industrial Property Information Bureau at KIPO, said, “The Industrial Property Information Act will serve as the legal basis to build a technology safety net for domestic companies by utilizing patent information and support companies and research institutions in creating more excellent patents.”

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