1. The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) joins hands with industry and research for the take off again in K-batteries.
- MOIP held an intellectual property (IP) academic conference with the Korea Battery Industry Association (KBIA) and the Next-Generation Secondary Battery Innovation Strategic Research Group (NGSBAISTRG)
MOIP and KBIA held a secondary battery-related IP academic conference.
This academic conference held in conjunction with InterBattery, which is Korea’s largest battery exhibition, was arranged to comprehensively view the IP strategies and industry and research trends to take off again in K-batteries by KBIA, NGSBAISTRG, the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency (KOIPA). In particular, this event is significant in that how to strengthen the secondary battery-related IP competitiveness was discussed for the first time by MOIP and industry and research together.
In the academic conference, MOIP and KOIPA introduced the operation status of the dedicated secondary battery examination organization, the super-fast examination system, the strategies responding to IP disputes, and the government support projects to protect IP rights. KBIA and NGSBAISTRG presented the secondary battery industry and research trends and future prospects, etc.
Jongseo CHOI, an executive director of KBIA, said, “to secure a super gap in the secondary battery industry, it is most important to establish IP strategies for core technologies and prepare IP protection measures. We also expect that this academic conference will be a strategic opportunity for Korean companies to strengthen IP competitiveness.”
Younghee LIM, a director of the Chemistry & Biotechnology Examination Bureau of MOIP, said, “although the secondary battery industry is facing temporary difficulties, at times like this, securing IPs for next-generation technologies is even more important. Starting with this academic conference, we will continue to arrange opportunities to discuss IP strategies with the secondary battery industry and research community.
2. MOIP enacts a semiconductor patent examination practice guide’.
- Predictability of patent examination in the semiconductor field increases.
MOIP enacts and distributes the semiconductor patent examination practice guide presenting patentability determination standards in the semiconductor field, so that Korean companies can secure high-quality patents early in the rapidly changing era of competition for supremacy in the semiconductor technology.
Since the semiconductor industry has been rapidly proceeding with miniaturization, integration and high-speed, such as EUV (extreme ultraviolet) exposure processes, amorphous carbon hard masks, HBM, next-generation AI semiconductors (NPU, PIM), etc., there has been a strong voice from the industry that patent examination reflecting the semiconductor industrial characteristics is needed.
MOIP enacted the semiconductor patent examination practice guide by reflecting the opinion from the semiconductor field that it is necessary to present clear standards for patentability determination, discovering and carefully selecting high-frequency cases among actual examination cases, and classifying them by article and type of patentability determination.
The examination practice guide includes specific standards for patentability determination as to the following three key points:
1) Requirements for description of an invention: way to determine the enablement requirements, etc. of an invention
2) Requirements for description of a claim(s): way to determine the unclear descriptions, etc. of a claim(s)
3) Requirements for patentability, such as inventive step(s), etc.: way to determine the ease of combining prior art, a simple design change(s), etc.
The examination practice guide presents the determination ways by deriving frequent cases by each of the three key points and selecting actual semiconductor examination cases in each type. It also includes the way to determine patentability of a claim for a product according to the definition of a manufacturing process (PBP: product by process) which frequently occurs in the semiconductor field.
MOIP plans to distribute the semiconductor patent examination practice guide through its website and hold a briefing session for the semiconductor IP council in April 2026 to improve the understanding of the relevant industry, academia and research communities in the semiconductor field.
The director of the Semiconductor Examination Bureau of MOIP said, “enacting the semiconductor patent examination practice guide will increase the consistency of examination and enable Korean semiconductor companies to secure high-quality patents. The semiconductor patent examination practice guide is expected to serve as a practical guide for small and medium companies and middle market companies (such as fabless companies and material/part/equipment specialized companies which have no capacity to establish IP strategies) in writing high-quality applications.
3. MOIP recruited companies to participate in a ‘research and business development for IP-based commercialization (IP-R&BD)’ (March 12~24, 2026).
- Overcoming the limitations of one-off support, MOIP supports up to 1.1 billion Korea Won for up to 3 years from product development to mass production.
MOPI recruited companies to participate in the 2026 research and business development for IP-based commercialization (hereinafter, referred to as the ‘IP-R&BD’) over the period of March 12~24, 2026, to fully support small and medium companies and middle market companies for IP-based production and commercialization.
IP-R&BD is an IP commercialization program to closely support the entire commercialization process including the product strategy establishment, problem solving, product advancement, and production process, etc. by using IP information. Notably, this program has greatly expanded the support period and scope by reorganizing the previous support program to innovate products by IP, to resolve the shortcomings of single-year support which had been constantly raised in the field.
The support targets are small and medium companies and middle market companies which have at least one of a registered patent, utility model or design. This year, a total of 100 companies are planned to be selected and provided with customized solutions by ① ‘innovative technology track’ to support the commercialization of advanced technologies owned by companies and ② ’technology transaction track’ to help the commercialization of technology transfer companies.
The companies can receive consultations on the development of innovative IP-based products worth up to 90 million Korea Won, such as new product planning and problem solving, etc., through the first step support. The companies can receive support from prototype production to investment and market development for the results.
The companies selected as excellent projects this year will be provided with the second step support worth up to 1 billion Korea Won for 2 years from product advancement to mass production, thereby helping the commercialization of patents owned by companies, to turn the patents into profitable products.
4. MOIP issued the ‘first corrective order’ on the products infringing the right of publicity of idol groups.
- MOIP sanctioned the unauthorized use of the names and likenesses of the famous idols including Seventeen (SVT), Boynextdoor (BND), Tomorrow X Together (TXT), etc.
As the sale of products using the names and likenesses, etc. of popular idols without permission has spread taking advantage of the global popularity of K-POP, MOIP has started an intensive crackdown.
On March 5, 2026, MOIP announced that it had caught 4 companies which produced and sold goods infringing on publicity rights by using, without permission, the names and likenesses of idol groups, such as, Seventeen, Boynextdoor, Tomorrow X Together, Aespa, IVE and RIIZE, and imposed a corrective order under the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act (hereinafter, referred to as the ‘Unfair Competition Prevention Act’).
The right of publicity is the right to protect the economic value of personality marks, such as the name, likeness/portrait and image of an individual, especially a famous person/celebrity. As the first corrective order against the act of selling the goods infringing on the right of publicity, this measure includes a strict law enforcement will to ‘prohibit free riding’ for the overall K-POP industry.
An investigator of unfair competition of MOIP conducted an administrative investigation (November 205~February 2026) on 4 offline sale places and online platforms including Sejong, Siheung, Bucheon and Gimhae. As a result, it was confirmed that the goods using, without permission, the stage names and likenesses of 41 artists belonging to a total of 6 idol groups including Seventeen, Boynextdoor, Tomorrow X Together, Aespa, IVE and RIIZE were illegally distributed. The relevant companies had promised the victims to stop infringing on the right of publicity (in April 2025) but they continued the infringing acts. The goods which were on sale were a total of 5 types including photo cards, student ID cards, stickers, etc. In this regard, if duplicate inventory of these same designs is included, the total sales volume is estimated to reach several thousand units.
Since the act of infringing the right of publicity, which was added as one type of an unfair competition act (June 2022) according to the amendment of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, is an act of infringing the economic interests of others, it can be subject to administrative sanctions, civil damages and injunction claims through administrative investigation. An act of using, without legitimate permission, the core economic assets (such as names or images, etc. of the idol groups) on the goods to be sold can greatly damage not only the interests of the artists and relevant agencies but also the trust of consumers and therefore it can be an act of unfair competition violating fair trade order.
The corrective order system under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act was introduced in August 2024 to promptly remedy rights and restore market order against the unfair competition acts, such as stealing ideas and infringing the right of publicity, etc. and its purpose to stop an act of violating the law and prevent the recurrence thereof. When the person who received the corrective order does not comply with it, since a fine of up to 20 million Korea Won can be imposed, the corrective order system is expected to function as an effective enforcement tool. This corrective order included ► immediate suspension of sales of products violating the law, ► disposal of the related products held for sale, ►prohibition of future sales in the same or similar manner, and ► completion of education to prevent the recurrence of an unfair competition act.
5. For overseas IP, legal support is 82.3 billion Korea Won, increasing by 36% (22 billion Korea Won) compared to the previous year.
- The Korean government takes the lead for overseas IP disputes.
- From now, Korean companies do not fight alone.
- IP educations linked to export sites, such as export exhibitions, fairs, and global platform entry, etc., are expanded.
Together with the relevant ministries and local governments, MOIP decided to greatly increase the budget for IP legal support this year by 36% (from 60.3 billion Korea Won to 82.3 billion Korea Won) to secure overseas IP, such as overseas trademarks, patents, etc., of Korean export companies and to prevent overseas disputes and respond to them, while they decided to strengthen the education for companies and the provision of overseas local information.
A total of 82.3 billion Korea Won will be abailable for legal support, such as prevention overseas IP disputes and response thereto, including 17.7 billion Korea Won as cost of securing overseas IP rights.
An AI-based pre-detection system is newly established to early detect signals of litigation possibility by analyzing the unauthorized preemption attempts of overseas trademarks and the patent purchase trends of non-practicing entities, thereby providing the relevant companies with risk information in advance, so that they can prepare for any risk.
Surveys of Korean companies’ IP infringements overseas are expanded (from 3 countries to 10 countries), and diagnosis of online counterfeit product distributions are also expanded (from 29 platforms in 10 countries to 1,650 platforms in 115 countries).
The scope of support for response strategic consulting to overseas IP disputes is expanded to overall acts of causing misidentification or confusion with Korean companies’ products or stores, as well as an obvious trademark infringement act, such as counterfeit products. Disputes relating to not only patent (disclosed proprietary technology) but also trade secret (technology managed as secret) are included in the target of support, thereby minimizing the blind spot of protection.
Specifically, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (securing overseas IP of K-food) and local governments (for strategies to secure overseas IP for local companies) participated together to establish a customized support system by industry and by field, while establishing a collaborative system among the related ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc., for overseas IP disputes which are difficult for an individual company to handle, and using overseas diplomatic missions to deal with the disputes more effectively.
IP education for export companies will be expanded from 5,000 companies to 6,000 companies, and a visiting IP education program will be operated for companies scheduled to participate in export exhibitions and fairs.
An on-site support of the ‘IP dispute doctor’, which provides education and consultation by experts of MOIP, is newly established to strengthen cooperation with the related organizations and associations, such as the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Cooperation (aT), etc., thereby closely providing customized IP educations to companies which plan to expand overseas in the 5 consumer goods sectors, such as cosmetics, food, fashion, etc.
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