1. The number of applications/registrations of intellectual property rights during the first half of this year decreased
The number of applications/registrations of intellectual property rights during the first half of this year decreased in comparison with the same period last year.
According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO; Commissioner: Jungsik KOH), the number of applications for patents/utility models/trademarks/designs filed from January to June of this year totaled 184,831, a decrease of 1.8% compared to 188,191 during the same period last year.
Classified by rights, the number of utility model applications decreased from 10,775 to 8,752 (18.8%), that of patent applications decreased from 80,973 to 79,233 (2.1%), and that of design applications decreased from 28,396 to 28,235 (0.6%).
Only the number of trademark applications increased from 68,047 to 68,611 (0.8%).
The number of registrations decreased from 124,156 in the first half of last year to 106,415 in the first half of this year (14.3%).
Classified by rights, while the number of utility model registrations increased from 1,132 to 2,832 and that of design registrations increased from 20,065 to 21,440, that of patent registrations decreased from 69,290 to 50,639 (26.9%) and that of trademark registrations decreased from 33,666 to 31,513 (6.4%).
A KIPO spokesman said, 밶s the number of applications/registrations for intellectual property rights of large companies decreased slightly, the total number of applications/registrations decreased.?
2. A Korean company prevailed over a US company in the patent dispute regarding semiconductor
A Korean company won litigation against a US company in a patent dispute regarding the semiconductor process technology.
According to an announcement dated July 7, 2008, the 50th Division of Civil Affairs & Consultation Section of the Seoul Central District Court (Chief Judge: Dongmyung LEE) dismissed the application for provisional disposition to prohibit patent infringement which Rohm and Hass, a US company, filed against SKC. Rohm and Hass holds the world market of CMP pads and slurry which are typical materials used during the semiconductor CMP process. The CPM process means the technology of planarizing the surface of a semiconductor circuit. Asserting that the CMP pad of SKC infringed the patent owned by Rohm and Hass, Rohm and Hass filed the application for provisional disposition to prohibit production by SKC.
The Court held that 밪KC products cannot be regarded as infringing Rohm & Hass products because SKC products are different from Rohm & Hass products with respect to the manufacturing methods and characteristics.? According to the explanation from Ducksoon CHANG, a legal attorney of Hwawoo which is a Korean law firm, on behalf of SKC, this decision verifies that Korean companies stand equally with advanced countries in the semiconductor process technology as well as the semiconductor production.
In 2005, Soowon District Court and the Seoul High Court dismissed another application for provisional disposition to prohibit patent infringement filed by Rohm and Hass. However, at present, that case is pending in the Supreme Court of Korea because the Korean Industrial Property Tribunal acknowledge (KIPT) and the Patent Court of Korea recognized the fact that SKC indirectly infringed the patent right.
3. Korean process (Core-A) comes into the world
- Technology of an embedded processor, a core of a B-memory semiconductor, is published
On July 21, 2008, KIPO announced that they would open all of an embedded process (called Core-A), which is the core technology of a Korean B-memory semiconductor, and the project results, such as a source code and a manual of design environments, and the like, to Korean companies, research institutes, universities and the like from July 22, 2008.
Anyone that wishes to receive the data to be open may input user information in the Core-A website (www.Core-A.or.kr) and submit a written technical cooperation agreement or may attend the Core-A launching event to be held in the hotel, Ritz-Carlton in Seoul.
The Core-A and the design environments to be open have been developed since 2006 and comprise: Core-A, On-Chip bus by Prof. Inchul PARK of KAIST; OS, Compiler by Prof. Jongyoul LEE of Chonbuk National University; Emulator, Debugger by Prof. Joosung PARK of Pusan National University; and Shared Platform by Prof. Raehuyk CHANG of Seoul National University.
Further, Hybus is developing an IP camera to increase the degree of completion and the reliability. The results of the development will be expected about the end of this year when the project term terminates.
Since 2006, the project to create and promote the core semiconductor design property right to develop the Core-A has been driven by KIPO, to strengthen the Korean technological competitiveness by developing the core technology, such as the embedded processor which had been dependent on a foreign product, and protecting the technology as the IP rights.
As the Core-A and the source code of design environments which are developed by the Korean top experts are open, it is expected to secure the alternate technology of the foreign embedded processor and to improve the Korean companies?semiconductor design technology.
4. Electricity is generated by using dyes: Dye-sensitized solar cell
- The number of applications related to dye-sensitized solar cells increases by six times or more during the latest 5 years.
In the case of a solar cell which is a core element directly converting solar energy into electric energy, the number of patent applications increased by about six times or more during the latest 5 years, from 53 in 2003 to 357 in 2007.
The first generation solar cell which generally uses crystalline silicon is 90%, or more, of the total market at present. However, this first generation solar cell has a problem of the high cost due to the use of wafers and the like.
The second generation solar cell is manufactured by depositing a light-absorption layer in the form of a thin film on a glass or plastic substrate, instead of an expensive wafer. Amorphous silicon or chalcopyrite compounds are used as the thin film layer. However, amorphous silicon has low efficiency. Chalcopyrite compounds have high efficiency but the technology of a mass-production process thereof is not sufficient.
Recently, an organic solar cell is regarded as the most powerful substitute to reduce the cost of the solar cell. Specifically, in the field of the dye-sensitized solar cell applying the photosynthesis principle of plants, the number of patent applications thereof is most greatly and rapidly increasing.
The dye-sensitized solar cell uses the phenomenon that dyes receive solar beams and transfer electrons to a semiconductor oxide. Until now, the dye-sensitized solar cell has been expected to have difficulties in commercialization due to the low efficiency of photoelectric conversion (the efficiency of a multi-crystalline silicon solar cell: 16%). However, these days, the relevant research is accelerating. For example, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has developed dye-sensitized solar cell having an efficiency of 7.4%, and it has been five years at a cost of USD 15,000,000 to start a joint technological development with Libya.
The first patent of the dye-sensitized solar cell by Gr?zel, et al. of Switzerland was registered in the U.S.A. in 1988 and 1991. Since the patent will expire in this year (October 2008), the barrier of the original technology to enter is relatively low. Furthermore, since the dye-sensitized solar cell has the special flexibility and lightness of organic material, the environment-friendliness, and the economical efficiency to significantly lower the manufacturing cost, compared to the conventional silicon material solar cell, more active research and development and patent activ
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