Kim Yongseon Vows to Advance Tangible Intellectual Property Policies for the Public

"Policies that the public cannot tangibly feel are policies without substance. I will concentrate the agency's capabilities on ensuring that the voices I have widely heard in the field are actually reflected in intellectual property policy so that they can permeate people's everyday lives." Kim Yongseon, Commissioner of the Intellectual Property Office (pictured), said this in an interview with The Asia Business Daily on the 10th.

On the 10th, Kim Yongseon, Commissioner of the Intellectual Property Office, described the achievements and reflections of his first 100 days in office and the future direction of intellectual property policy. Intellectual Property Office

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During his first 100 days in office, Commissioner Kim focused on listening to voices from the intellectual property field. The number of roundtable meetings, on-site policy visits, and corporate visits he has conducted already exceeds 100. In effect, he visited the field more than once a day to listen to on-the-ground opinions. In this process, he considered policies centered on "practicality" and "outcomes" that the public can truly experience.

Advancing the average patent examination period from 16.1 months in 2024 to 14.7 months last year, shortening the average trademark examination period over the same period from 12.6 months to 11.9 months, and deciding to pursue accession to the Patent Law Treaty, the global standard for patent procedures, are representative examples of reflecting the voices heard in the field in actual policy.

The pan-national project "Ideas for All," which resolves corporate, social, and public issues through ideas from the public, is also emerging as a meaningful achievement among the initiatives of the past 100 days. In just a little over one month, the project’s contest website recorded a cumulative 800,000 visits. The number of idea submissions exceeded 6,000. This is evidence that public interest and participation are steadily increasing under the perception that "anyone can submit an idea."

Commissioner Kim explained, "Ideas for All is a project promoted to gather creative ideas that can be of real help in people's daily lives, such as 'colored lane guidance lines on road surfaces' and 'medicine bags printed with drug information,' and thereby drive social change and economic innovation," adding, "It is meaningful in that anyone can submit ideas and gain the opportunity to participate in policymaking through their ideas."

He went on to stress, "If the past 100 days were a time to listen to voices in the field and reflect on the direction of policy, then from now on it will be a time to focus on efforts to actually incorporate the voices (requirements) we have heard into intellectual property policy."

He also expressed his determination to accelerate policy implementation based on five key words: startup and growth, regional and balanced development, examination and trial, fairness and coexistence, and economic security and international cooperation.

The "startup and growth" policy direction mentioned by Commissioner Kim means providing three types of intellectual property-based solutions so that young people and prospective entrepreneurs can grow based on their ideas and technologies: securing intellectual property rights (IP Didimdol and IP Narae programs), product development and commercialization (public-private partnership IP strategy support), and raising investment capital (IP valuation and IP finance).

For example, the idea is to help ideas submitted by the public through "Ideas for All" develop into marketable intellectual property, and to support turning those ideas, once patented or trademarked through cooperation with related ministries such as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, into actual businesses.

The "regional and balanced development" direction will be pursued through the "100 Local Representative K-Brand Project," which is centered on combining local cultural heritage and specialty products that embody regional characteristics or stories, such as Jinan red ginseng and Andong salted mackerel, with intellectual property so that they can be linked to jobs and income for local residents.

The "examination and trial" direction is based on significantly expanding patent and trademark examination personnel to shorten the examination period by 2029 to 10 months for patents and 6 months for trademarks. In particular, starting next month, the plan is to provide ultra-fast examination for startups in the artificial intelligence (AI) and bio sectors so that they can receive examination results within one month.

The "fairness and coexistence" direction aims to support one-stop resolution of intellectual property disputes through the establishment of an Intellectual Property Legal Support Group, while the "economic security and international cooperation" direction focuses on creating a dedicated investigative organization to block the outflow of core domestic technologies overseas.

Commissioner Kim said, "The Intellectual Property Office, as the control tower and coordinating body for intellectual property policy, goes beyond the traditional scope of the Korean Intellectual Property Office's work and plays a role in integrating intellectual property policy into all areas, including the economy, industry, science and technology, society and culture, diplomacy, and security, to drive national innovation," adding, "In line with this purpose, the Intellectual Property Office will establish the role of the organization going forward and devote itself to developing the creativity and ideas of the public into intellectual property, thereby contributing to technology-driven growth and economic innovation."

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