Korean Patent Attorneys Association: "Over 50,000 Hours of Member Public Service Activities in the Past Two Years"

The participation of patent attorneys in pro bono and other public interest activities has increased significantly.

The Korean Patent Attorneys Association announced on the 25th that 2,316 patent attorney members performed a total of 53,226 hours of public interest activities from 2023 to 2024.

This is five times the hours recorded in the first year of mandatory public interest activities for patent attorneys (around 10,000 hours in 2020) and about a 25% increase compared to the previous period (40,359 hours from 2021 to 2022).

Previously, to strengthen the public nature of patent attorneys, the Association introduced mandatory public interest activities for patent attorneys at the 2017 regular general meeting, and it was legally mandated under the revised Patent Attorney Act implemented in July 2023.

The types of public interest activities mainly include pro bono work utilizing patent attorneys' expertise such as patent and industrial property applications and consultations (18,234 hours), as well as individual social volunteer activities (18,294 hours).

Pro bono work is conducted in various forms, including free consultations at the public interest counseling center within the association building, intellectual property expert consultations via an online portal site, public interest patent attorney activities for socially vulnerable groups, court-appointed attorney activities at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and intellectual property education conducted at universities and companies.

The Association recently launched a carbon neutrality campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by deleting unnecessary emails such as spam and advertisements, and plans to hold a bread-making event for socially vulnerable groups next month.

Additionally, to commemorate the newly established “1st Patent Attorney Day” on June 26, the Association will provide consultations on patents and other industrial property rights to the general public, and plans to diversify public interest activities by operating a youth planning volunteer program in cooperation with the Seoul Volunteer Center in the second half of the year.

Kim Doo-gyu, President of the Korean Patent Attorneys Association, said, “As we enter the era of technological hegemony, the social status and role of patent attorneys are also increasing,” and added, “The Association will strive to diversify the types of public interest activities so that more members can have various opportunities to engage in public interest activities.”

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