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The ‘Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP)’ launched as a national intellectual property policy control tower.(News Letter No. 563) |
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KH |
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2025-11-03 |
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1. The ‘Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP)’ launched as a national intellectual property policy control tower.
- An organization to strategically respond to intellectual property disputes has been established.
- A dedicated support organization has been also arranged to take in charge of creation, utilization and transaction of intellectual property.
With the enactment of the amendment to the government organization act on October 1, 2025, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) was promoted to the Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) under the Prime Minister’s Office which has been newly launched.
The launch of MOIP is to prepare the foundation for industrial innovation which leads the future by integrating and managing various forms of intellectual property and to comprehensively establish the creation, utilization and protection functions of intellectual property. In the future, as the national intellectual property policy control tower, MOIP will carry out the establishment, generalization and coordination of government-wide intellectual property policies.
In line with this launch, the reorganization was also carried out to strengthen core functions. The organization, which was previously 1 building, 9 bureaus, 1 section, 57 divisions, 3 affiliations and 1,785 people, has been expanded and reorganized to 1 building, 10 bureaus, 1 section, 62 divisions, 3 affiliations and 1,800 people.
The biggest change in this reorganization is the establishment of the intellectual property dispute response bureau. The work previously performed by division has been expanded to be performed by bureau, to support a rapid response at the national level upon an intellectual property dispute. In addition, overall intellectual property work scattered across different government departments is to be coordinated, to prevent a blind spot of protection and to prepare a protection mechanism for new intellectual property.
A dedicated support organization in charge of the creation, utilization and transaction of intellectual property has been also established. The industrial property utilization division has been reorganized as the intellectual property creation and utilization division, and the intellectual property transaction and commercialization division has been newly established. This is to provide a ‘virtuous cycle ecosystem of intellectual property’ by securing high-quality intellectual property through R&D and creating profits through transaction and commercialization to linked to R&D reinvestment. It plans to support excellent intellectual property to be reborn as a growth engine for the national economy, by strengthening cooperation between ministries to create government R&D and utilization policies from an intellectual property standpoint.
MOIP as the national intellectual property policy control tower plans to carry forward the establishment of cross-ministerial policy to support the securing of South Korea’s industrial competitiveness as a top priority, and it plans to build an environment in which intellectual property created by Korean people and companies can be actively transacted in the market and everyone can freely engage in activities without worrying about intellectual property disputes.
2. MOIP and Korea Institute of Intellectual Property (KIIP) published the trends of IP applications in the first half of 2025.
- The number of patent applications filed by Korean applicants increased both domestically and internationally in the first half of 2025, showing ‘K-patents’ to the world.
- The proportion of patent applications related to high-tech industries, such as AI and secondary batteries.
Despite the recent difficult economic conditions, the number of patent applications filed by Korean applicants increased in both of South Korea and the major countries (the US, Europe, China and Japan), compared to the same period, last year.
According to MOIP, the number of Korean patent applications filed in the first half of 2025 totaled 109,322, showing an increase of 1.6% compared to the same period of 2024. Of these Korean applications, 83,815 Korean patent applications were filed by Korean applicants, showing an increase of 1.6% compared to 82,472 filed during the same period of 2024. The number of Korean patent applications filed by US and European applicants decreased and the number of Korean patent application filed by Chinese and Japanese applicants increased.
Notably, the number of Korean patent application filed by Chinese applicants was 3,021, increasing by 15.3% compared to 2,622 filed during the same period of 2024. This indicates that Chinese companies have used the Korean market as a strategic base, coupled with the slowdown in the growth of China’s domestic market and the US-China trade conflict, etc.
The number of patent applications filed with IP5 by Korean applicants in the first half of 2025 increased by 2.8%, to 127,247 from 123,792 filed during the same period of 2024. Among them, the number of patent applications filed with USPTO was 21,465, accounting for the largest proportion (49.5%) of overseas applications (USPTO, CNIPA, JPO and EPO), and the number of patent applications filed with JPO was 4,607 with an increase of 18.2%, recording the highest growth rate.
● Current status of overseas patent applications filed by Korean applicants in the first half of 2025 (number of cases, increase rate compared to the same period of 2024) are: US patent applications (21,465, 2.9%), European (6,716, 5.9%), Chinese (10,655, 4.2%) and Japanese (4,607, 18.2%). This shows that Korean people have begun to secure global intellectual property rights in earnest, to enter overseas markets.
By industry, among the top 10 fields of Korean patent applications filed in the first half of 2025, the number of Korean patent applications for the ICT (information and communication technology)-related industries, including AI and quantum computing technology, was 14,089, showing an increase of 13.5% compared to the same period of 2024. The number of patent applications in the secondary battery field was 5,672, increasing by 17% compared to the same period of 2024. Notably, the number of the relevant patent applications increased by big companies including LG, Samsung, SK among the others.
● The number of patent applications for the ICT-related industries (computer programming, system integration and management, and computer manufacturing) increased from 12,413 in the first half of 2024 to 14,089 in the first half of 2025, the number of patent applications for the secondary battery industry (primary battery and storage battery manufacturing) increased from 4,844 to 5,672.
The director of the Intellectual Property Information Bureau of MOIP said, “The increase in the number of patent applications filed by Korean applicants is the result of Korean companies’ focus on technology development without shrinking in the midst of intensifying competition among major countries in high-tech and key industries….MOIP will spare no support such that, in an unstable internal and external environments, Korean companies can overcome crises and make innovation leaps based on patents for future industries, such as AI and secondary batteries, etc.”
3. MOIP held a meeting on a collective mark with geographical indication.
MOIP held a policy meeting to activate the system of a collective mark with geographical indication in Korea Intellectual Property Service Center (KIPS), Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
A collective mark with geographical indication is a system to guarantee that, when a specialty product produced in a specific region is recognized for its quality or reputation that differentiates it from other regions, it can be exclusively used by a cooperation jointly incorporated by persons who produce, manufacture and process the geographical indication. Representative examples include Boseong green tea and Incheon Korean beef, etc.
Since others cannot register the same or similar trademark when registering a collective mark with geographical indication, this system can prevent the unauthorized preemption or fraudulent use of a local specialty product’s name and it has a merit that consumers can trust the quality and source of the product to purchase.
While the K-food craze has spread around the world, peoples’ interest in Korean agricultural and fishery products and processed foods is increasing, the risk of unauthorized preemption and imitation of a specialty product’s name is also increasing in overseas markets. It is more important than ever to protect our products by the system of collective marks with geographical indications.
This meeting was arranged to seek the direction to improve the system of a collective mark with geographical indication by checking the current status of the system and listening to the opinions from those owning rights. Association of Geographical Indication Specialty Products which is an incorporate association, and 16 corporations from all over the country, including Ganwon speical self-governing province, Jeju-island and etc., attended in this meeting.
The director of the Trademark and Design Examination Bureau of MOIP said, “as much as there have been recent cases of disputes overseas where Korean specialty products’ names have been preempted without permission and damages have occurred, it is necessary to strongly protect Korean local specialty products by the system of collective marks with geographical indications…Taking this meeting as an opportunity, we will do our best to increase the brand values of Korean local specialty products and further to contribute to the revitalization of our local economy.”
4. MOIP held an award ceremony and an exhibition for an excellent trademark in Korean language and a Hangel (Korean alphabet) font design.
CJ Logistics’ “오네” was selected as this year’s beautiful trademark in Korean, and Yoon Designs’s “윤800” font was selected for the beautiful Hangul design.
MOIP held the ‘10th selection contest for an excellent trademark in Korean’ and the ‘1st selection contest for a beautiful Hangul font design’ and awarded the trademark and design receiving excellent evaluations.
This event, which was hosted by MOIP and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the national Institute of the Korean Language, was arranged to promote the trademarks made in the Korean language and the font designs bringing out the formative beauty of Hangul.
Notably, after being promoted to MOIP, unlike in the past when only award ceremonies were held, a Hangul font design category was established and awarded, the event was planned as a comprehensive event including exhibitions, experiences and expert lectures.
(Selection contest for excellent trademark made in Korean language)
▲ “오네” [means ‘is coming’ in English] of CJ Logistics, which was selected as the beautiful trademark in Korean (Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award) is a pure Korean language trademark which is interpreted as the meaning of ‘excitement and joy are coming’.
▲ “꽃하나에봄’ [means ‘spring at one flower’] was selected as the pretty trademark (Minister of MOIP Award).
▲ “깨끗한 나라”, “나무와 가지”, “도드람한돈”, “오래살개”, and “너브내” were selected as the friendly trademark (Director of the National Institute of the Korean Language Award).
(Selection contest for beautiful Hangul font design)
▲ “윤800” font of Yoon Design, which was selected for the beautiful Hangul design (Minister of MOIP Award), expressed the characteristics of the existing Myeongjo [Serif] and Gothic fonts in one font.
▲ “무림한글예서01” font of Moorim was selected for the best Hangul font design (Minister of MOIP Award).
In the seminar held immediately after the award ceremony, KIM Eunhye, director of Daehong Planning Co., Ltd., gave a lecture on the subject of ‘Hangul becomes brands. Power of Hangul discovered by advertisement.’ The winners also shared their trademark and design development cases and know-hows.
In addition, exhibitions and various experience programs were operated at the same location from October 15 to 17, 2025, to introduce this award-winning work and past award-winning work. In particular, an exhibition of calligraphy styles exclusively for local governments across the country was held and a rubbing experience using a Hangul design was also provided.
The acting director of the Minister of MOIP said, “this event is very meaningful since we were able to confirm examples of increasing economic value by adding trademarks and designs to the words and writings which we use….In a situation where the Korean beauty and identity expressed in Korean characters (letters) through various media, such as movies and music, etc., have been recognized around the world, as the ministry in charge of intellectual property, we will fulfill our responsibility to further increase the value of Hangul’s intangible assets and lead the way in protecting the value.”
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Korean Industrial Insight No. 18 of AI, Semiconductors, Batteries, Electric vehicles, and Bio
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