Patent Office and Private Investment Institutions Collaborate on 'Two-Track' Intellectual Property Strategy Support

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is set to promote an intellectual property strategy support project in collaboration with private investment institutions.

On the 28th, KIPO announced the selection of six private investment institutions to participate in the "2024 Public-Private Partnership Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy Support Project."

The selected private investment institutions are ▲ FuturePlay Co., Ltd. (joint consortium with Wefocus Patent Law Firm) ▲ Dodam Patent Law Firm (joint consortium with MY Social Company Co., Ltd.) ▲ RPM Patent Law Firm (joint consortium with Y&Archer Co., Ltd.) ▲ Dahae Patent Law Firm (joint consortium with Seoul National University Technology Holdings) ▲ Junsung Patent Law Firm (joint consortium with Kwangwoon University Technology Holdings, Kookmin University Technology Holdings, New Paradigm Investment) ▲ T-Biz Co., Ltd. (joint consortium with Infobank Co., Ltd.).

These institutions possess comprehensive investment capabilities, intellectual property expertise, and startup planning competencies. A total of 31 institutions participated in the bidding process, resulting in a competitive ratio of 5 to 1.

The "Public-Private Partnership IP Strategy Support Project," jointly conducted by KIPO and these institutions, is newly launched this year to reflect the voices of startups and investment institutions in the private sector.

In this project, each private investment institution will select five IP startup companies and invest at least 70 million KRW per company from May to December. Additionally, they will oversee the companies' IP management in the role of CIPO (Chief Intellectual Property Officer).

The CIPO is responsible for managing the strategic planning of the company's IP, including research and development (R&D), IP portfolio, licensing, rights protection, transactions, litigation, and finance.

KIPO supports budgets for IP rights acquisition, product strategy consulting, prototype production, and other intellectual property-based commercialization strategies (around 70 million KRW per company), enabling private investment institutions to carry out customized services for each company.

Furthermore, consulting support for investment attraction and global expansion will help IP startups secure funding and access sales channels.

Promotion Plan for Public-Private Partnership Intellectual Property Strategy Support Project. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

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Broadly, the project is implemented by one private investment institution discovering five IP startup companies and providing a total of 350 million KRW (70 million KRW per company) in private investment funds, matched by an additional 350 million KRW from KIPO.

While the private investment institution undertakes investment and the CIPO role to discover IP startups and conduct private investment and incubation, KIPO supports the commercialization package of IP products (IP rights acquisition, IP product strategy planning, IP production verification).

Through this process, IP startups can simultaneously receive investment and professional patent commercialization strategy support. Additionally, private investment institutions benefit from the advantage of supporting excellent IP startups they have directly discovered and invested in, together with the government.

Mok Seong-ho, Director of the Industrial Property Policy Bureau at KIPO, stated, "We hope the intellectual property strategy support project will serve as a cornerstone for expanding the importance of intellectual property in the private investment market. KIPO will continue to expand cooperation with the private sector to ensure that IP startups and investments can be activated simultaneously without hesitation."

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