1. The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) visited KT&G which is a leading K-food export company.
- DISCUSSION WAS MADE ON HOW TO PROTECT KOREAN COMPANIES’ OVERSEAS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) RIGHTS TO ACTIVATE EXPORTS.
MOIP VISITED KT&G (LOCATED IN GANGNAM-GU, SEOUL) TO LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF THE FIELD AND TO DISCUSS HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE IP PROTECTION OF KOREAN EXPORT COMPANIES OVERSEAS.
KT&G IS A GLOBAL CONSUMER GOODS COMPANY WHICH MANUFACTURES HEALTH FUNCTIONAL FOODS REPRESENTED BY JUNG KWAN JANG, AND CIGARETTES, WITH A TOTAL OVERSEAS SALE OF KT&G GROUP REACHING 2 TRILLION KOREA WON IN 2024. KT&G IS A TRUE LEADING EXPORT COMPANY EXPORTING RED GINSENG AND TOBACCO TO 148 COUNTRIES.
NOTABLY, AS A REPRESENTATIVE IP MANAGEMENT COMPANY SECURING A NUMBER OF IP RIGHTS AT HOME AND ABROAD THROUGH ITS INDEPENDENT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, KT&G HAS RECENTLY NEWLY ESTABLISHED A DEDICATED ORGANIZATION TO ACTIVELY RESPOND TO THE INCREASING NUMBER OF COUNTERFEIT PRODUCTS OVERSEAS, TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN BRAND MANAGEMENT.
MOIP PROMOTED AS THE MINISTRY ON OCTOBER 1, 2025 NEWLY ESTABLISHED THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTE RESOLUTION BUREAU, TO STRENGTH THE PROTECTION OF DOMESTIC AND OVERSEAS IP RIGHTS OF KOREAN COMPANIES. THEREBY, THE EXISTING SUPPORT OF OVERSEAS IP PROTECTION IS FURTHER STRENGTHENED, AND VARIOUS OPINIONS FROM COMPANIES AND IP EXPERTS, ETC. ARE COLLECTED TO ESTABLISH STRATEGIC DISPUTE RESPONSE PLANS.
THIS ON-SITE VISIT WAS ARRANGED TO SEEK SUPPORT MEASURES AT THE GOVERNMENT LEVEL THROUGH KT&G’S VARIOUS RESPONSE CASES RELATED TO SECURING AND PROTECTING IP RIGHTS OVERSEAS.
MOK SEONG-HO, ACTING DIRECTOR OF MOIP SAID, “TO RESPOND TO COUNTERFEIT PRODUCTS AND IMITATION PRODUCTS, ETC. OVERSEAS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO ESTABLISH A LOCALLY TAILORED IP PROTECTION STRATEGY FOR EACH COUNTRY WHERE KOREAN EXPORT COMPANIES ENTER…. WE WILL STRENGTHEN THE OVERSEAS IP PROTECTION POLICIES AND SUPPORT THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS OF Korean export companies by continuing to actively reflect the voices from the field.”
2. MOIP held a presentation on the European intellectual property systems.
- The presentation introduced the European patent, trademark and design systems and application strategies and the latest trends of a unitary patent and a Unified Patent Court.
According to MOIP, the presentation on the European IP systems was held on October 14 and 15, 2025. This presentation was a customized event for Korean users, where the people from the European Patent Office (EPO), the United Patent Court (UPC) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and renowned domestic and international experts attended. This presentation which was hosted by EUIPO and supported by MOIP was promoted as part of the intellectual property cooperation project between EU and the Republic of Korea (EU-RoK IP Action).
Recently, Europe has been experiencing active institutional changes with the official implementation of the unitary patent system and the unified patent court in 2023 and the full revision of the EU Design Act in 2024, which was made after about 20 years. Since this presentation was prepared to introduce these changes and solve difficulties when filing European applications, it was an opportunity for Korean companies and experts to directly hear about the latest trends of the European IP systems from experts and seek practical response strategies.
In the presentation, an in-depth analysis and a Q&A session were provided on the topics of: ▲ changes in the European IP system, ▲ the latest trends in the unitary patent and the unified patent court, and ▲ application strategies and dispute response strategies centered on Korean companies’ cases. In addition, through this presentation, it is expected that Korean applicants will be able to get practical help in shortening the examination period, by effectively responding to the substantive examination by European examiners through the analysis of patent application cases.
The director of the Intellectual Property Protection and International Cooperation Bureau of MOIP said, “since Europe is the region where Korean companies file the second largest number of patent applications overseas, it is a strategically very important market for technology and brand protection. We will continue to actively support Korean companies and experts to proactively respond to the changes in the European IP systems and strengthen their IP competitiveness.”
3. MOIP held a conference on a counterfeit product authenticating technology.
On October 2, 2025, MOIP held a conference on counterfeit product authenticating technology (hereinafter, referred to as the conference). This event was prepared to share the polices and cases of blocking the distribution of domestical and overseas counterfeit products, to launch an ‘anti-counterfeiting technology council’ and to introduce the current status of the use of the counterfeit product authenticating technology, etc.
The conference was attended by Darren Tang, Director General of WIPO, KWAK Sang-eon, Member of the Small and Medium-sized Venture Business Committee of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, LEE Myung-gu, Director of the Korea Customers Service, and the relevant organizations, such as the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp. (KOMSCO).
As the counterfeiting technology using artificial intelligence (AI), etc. has been recently advanced, the number of cases of mass production and distribution of sophisticated counterfeit products which are difficult to distinguish in appearance has increased. In the conference, companies with an anti-counterfeiting technology, owners of trademark rights, and domestic and overseas relevant organizations, etc. attended to discuss technical countermeasures to block counterfeit products and the need to strengthen cooperation, etc.
The conference consisted of a total of 3 sessions: an exhibition and demonstration of anti-counterfeiting technologies, a seminar to share public-private response strategies to prevent the distribution of counterfeit products, and a fair to introduce and consult a program to respond to an IP infringement.
The exhibition and demonstration introduced and demonstrated various anti-counterfeiting technologies, such as counterfeit product authenticating technology, counterfeit preventing technology, AI-based counterfeit product monitoring system, etc. which are used at home and abroad. The attendees are expected to be able to check the latest technology trends and the cases applying the latest technology through direct experience and to more easily understand the need for authentication and blocking counterfeit products.
The ‘anti-counterfeiting technology council’ in which the government, public institutions and private companies participated was officially launched prior to the seminar. The council was attended by government ministries (such as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fishereies, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rura Affairs), the related organizations (such as KOTRA and KOMSCO, etc.) and 24 technology owning companies. The council promoted to: ▲ support the technology owning companies’ overseas expansion, ▲ strengthen expertise through joint research and technology transfer, ▲ conduct research on technology linkage measures to strengthen security.
At the fair, a place for exchanges between companies with anti-counterfeiting technology and trademark owners was provided. In addition, a project on how to respond to IP infringement was introduced for export companies, and an one-on-one consultation with a public interest patent attorney was conducted.
4. MOIP provides a super-fast examination to a company promoting overseas expansion.
- A super-fast examination is the best for K-cutting edge technology’s preemption of overseas markets, to open up export shortcuts.
- Examination of a patent and a trademark for export is to be finished in ‘one month’.
MOIP announced to support for the super-fast examination for patent, utility model and trademark applications related to overseas expansion from October 15, 2025.
Since the super-fast examination system is to provide the results of the first examination as for patent and utility model applications within one month and as for trademark applications within 30 days, it significantly shortens the examination period compared to the existing preferential examination system.
Type of right Preferential examination Super-fast examination
~ Results of 1st examination ~ Final results total ~ Results of 1st examination ~ Final results total
Patent/utility model 2 months 4 months 6 months or longer → 1 month 1 month 2 months
Trademark 45 days 30 days (period for raising an objection) 75 days → 30 days 30 days (period for raising an objection) 60 days
* In the case of general examination as for patent and utility model applications, it takes 16.1 months for the first examination and 23.1 months to close the examination (as of 2024).
** In the case of general examination as for trademark applications, it takes 12.8 months for the first examination and 17.2 months to close the examination (as of 2024).
Applications eligible for requesting a super-fast examination should be related to exportation among the applications subjected to the existing preferential examination.
In the case of patent and utility model applications, a super-fast examination is available to ① an invention or device subjecting to a preferential examination to promote exports or ② an invention or device relating to a cutting edge technology and filed based on a convention priority claim. This year, a super-fast examination will be implemented as a pilot program as for 500 cases of patent applications and 500 cases of utility model applications this year. Next year, a super-fast examination will be supported for a total of 4,000 cases including 2,000 cases of patent applications and 2,000 cases of utility model applications.
In the case of trademark applications, it is possible to request a super-fast examination as for ① an application for a trademark of a product being exported or to be exported, ② an application for a trademark filed based on a convention priority claim, or ③ an application for a trademark filed based on an international application according to the Madrid Protocol, and there is no limit to the number of applications.
Notably, in order for Korean companies to continue exporting through improved technology without stopping at one-off exports, in the case of patent and utility model applications which have been improved based on products which have been exported within the last 3 years, a super-fast examination can be requested even though such an application(s) does not have any direct export results.
In addition, in the case where a small or medium company or middle market company was selected for the ‘global IP star company development project’, ‘IP risk response capacity enhancement project for export-challenging companies’, ‘patent dispute response strategy support project’ and ‘K-brand dispute response strategy support project’ (corresponding to only trademarks), which are MOIP’s support projects relating to exports and overseas disputes, for the last 3 years, it is granted eligibility for requesting a super-fast examination of patent, utility model and trademark, thereby planning to build an integrated support system covering the establishment of export strategies for Korean companies to secure IP rights.
When an invention is quickly granted a patent domestically by using a super-fast examination, it can be fast granted patent locally by using the patent prosecution highway (PPH) program in the countries, such as the US, China, Japan, etc., based on the corresponding domestic patent. Therefore, Korean companies expanding overseas are able to effectively protect their core technologies locally overseas.
Besides, if a domestic trademark is registered quickly, ▲ an international application under the Madrid Protocol can be effectively processed, ▲ the submission of a statement of use maybe exempted when filing a US application, and ▲ the procedures for filing an application overseas can be far easier since whether a trademark has been registered or not in the Republic of Korea is applied as an important criterion for determination during the local examination process in some Southeast Asian countries. Further, ▲ in terms of overseas export contracts, overseas trademark preemption prevention and dispute response, etc., it can be advantageous for Korea companies to establish overseas expansion strategies.
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