Lee International

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that it is currently recruiting 60 additional patent examiners in biotechnology, advanced robot technology and artificial intelligence technology as part of a third expansion in the national strategic technology field, following recent hires in semiconductor and secondary battery technologies.  This expansion is expected to help companies in these fields to secure patents more quickly.

Specifically, the total number of patent applications filed for the last five years with KIPO was increased by an average of 2.3% per year, while the annual growth rate in the number of patent applications in biotechnology, advanced robot technology and artificial intelligence technology is much higher, at 8.4%.

To keep pace with recent trends of patent applications, KIPO is recruiting additional patent examiners across 10 specialized subfields to support the rapid and accurate examination of patent applications in biotechnology, advanced robot technology and artificial intelligence technology.  Specifically, 35 examiners will be recruited for biotechnology (including bio-based technology, bio-diagnosis and analysis, bio-medicine, healthcare medical device and healthcare data analysis); 16 examiners for the advanced robot (including robot mechanism design, interface and robot control technologies); and 9 examiners for the artificial intelligence (including machine learning and cognitive processing technologies).

Companies in these technology fields should actively consider building a patent portfolio focused on their core technologies to enhance their competitiveness in the future IP market in Korea.

In response to this trend, our firm recently established an IP TechCenter focusing on semiconductor, secondary battery, display, AI/Information convergence and medical devices.  This center enables us to better understand our clients’ technologies and industrial trends, allowing us to address various issues arising from the rapidly evolving global technology landscape with greater expertise.

In particular, we expect that the IP TechCenter will enable us to respond proactively to KIPO’s recent initiatives to strengthen rights in national strategic technology fields, while also delivering customized, technology-focused services to our clients.