Patent Office to Introduce 'Priority Examination' for Bio Sector Next Year... Rapid Patent Rights Acquisition

Starting next year, the bio sector will also be included in the priority examination targets for patents. When priority examination is applied, the examination processing period will be drastically reduced, enabling rapid acquisition of patent rights. Currently, priority examination is only applied to semiconductors, displays, and secondary batteries.

Kim Wanki, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, is announcing the 'Strategy for Realizing a Dynamic Economy Based on Intellectual Property' at the Government Complex Daejeon on the 5th. Photo by Korean Intellectual Property Office

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced the "Intellectual Property-Based Dynamic Economy Implementation Strategy (Intellectual Property Strategy)" on the 5th. The Intellectual Property Strategy aims to strengthen a "virtuous cycle ecosystem of intellectual property" that encourages innovation by economic agents to be converted into rights and monetization, and reinvested into innovation. Based on this, KIPO plans to increase the scale of industrial property rights held by domestic companies from 1.53 million cases in 2021 to 2 million cases by 2027.

To this end, KIPO will hire a total of 60 private experts as patent examiners in fields such as bio (35 people), advanced robotics (16 people), and artificial intelligence (9 people) starting January next year. Among these, the bio sector will complete the patent examination package support system by consecutively conducting patent examiner recruitment, launching a dedicated examination organization, and introducing priority examination.

Previously, KIPO applied the patent examination package support system to advanced strategic industries such as semiconductors (November 2022), displays (November last year), and secondary batteries (February this year). The core of the patent examination package is rapid and high-quality patent examination. It enables patent applicants to quickly secure patent rights through manpower expansion by recruiting private experts and institutional support.

Accordingly, as of the end of September, the average processing period for priority examination in the semiconductor and display sectors was 1.6 months, which is more than 14 months shorter than the general examination processing period (average 15.9 months).

KIPO supports domestic advanced strategic industries such as semiconductors and bio to enhance their competitiveness through intellectual property, supports national strategy formulation using patent big data amounting to 600 million cases, and strengthens domestic and international intellectual property protection capabilities. Patent big data is a collection of advanced technical information containing technology-holding companies (applicants), researchers (inventors), technology fields (patent classification codes), and technical information (detailed descriptions of inventions).

Furthermore, KIPO helps domestic companies avoid damage from overseas intellectual property disputes. Starting next year, consulting will be provided to companies in the early stages or planning to export, enabling them to diagnose and respond to intellectual property dispute risks in advance.

In addition, KIPO will introduce artificial intelligence monitoring that allows 24-hour monitoring and reporting of counterfeit product sales posts posted on domestic and international platforms. This measure considers the increasing distribution of counterfeit products through major channels such as online shopping malls and overseas direct purchases. The distribution of counterfeit products causes brand infringement damage to small and medium-sized enterprises and increases harm from the perspective of public safety in products such as baby goods and automobile parts.

Kim Wanki, Commissioner of KIPO, said, "Intellectual property is innovation itself and a key element necessary to lead dynamic economic growth. KIPO will faithfully implement the intellectual property strategy to support the government in realizing a dynamic economy."

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