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KIPO agreed to exchange examination information with USPTO (147)

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KH

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2008-07-01

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1. KIPO agreed to exchange examination information with USPTO

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO; Commissioner: Jungsik KOH) announced that they agreed to exchange the examination information with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from October this year, using the examination information exchange system, Trilateral-Patent Information On-line Network (T-PION), among countries.
Based on this agreement, both KIPO and USPTO can search the examination results of the patent/utility model cross applications which are filed in both the Republic of Korea and the U.S.A. and search results of the prior art, to be used for their respective examination of the applications.
The number of cases that KIPO and USPTO will exchange examination information with each other is expected to reach about 32,000 per year, considering the number of the cross applications filed with both KIPO and USPTO.
According to KIPO, when exchanging examination information with USPTO, searches of the US prior art documents will be simplified to lighten the burden of the examination work.
Further, the exchange of the examination information between KIPO and USPTO will help in providing high quality examination services to an applicant who files a cross application for a patent or a utility model.
The Korean examination information is provided, together its Korean original text and English material resulting from a machine translation. Thus, since US examiners who are not familiar with the Korean language can easily understand the Korean examination information, the additional effect that Korean patent technology can be further protected in the U.S.A. is expected.
From April 2007, KIPO and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) have exchanged examination information for about 25,000 cross applications per year, using the T-PION.
KIPO announced that the would plan to expand the mutual exchange of the examination information with the European Patent Office (EPO) and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People¡¯s Republic of China, following the USPTO and that this agreement will be helpful in providing the high quality of examination services and in lessening the examination burden.


2. ¡®Instruction to watch Nichia of Japan¡¯ is given in Korean optical component market

Nichia Chemical Industries (hereinafter, referred to as ¡®Nichia¡¯) of Japan has increasingly exercised a great influence over the Korean optical component market. Since the original technology of the Korean component material industries is weak, a fluorescent substance for a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCEL) which is a core material of an LCD is imported and most is dependent on Nichia.
In the illumination market of a light-emitting diode (LED) which has been recently raised, Nichia owning the patent of the ¡®yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG)¡¯-based fluorescent substance technology is pressing the Korean relevant industries. The YAG fluorescent substance technology is most advantageous in realizing high-brightness. However, since Nichia does not sell the YAG fluorescent substance to any other companies than those concluding the patent co-ownership with Nichia, the Korean relevant industries are pressed.
Nichia almost monopolizes the production of CCFL fluorescent substance throughout the world. Daejoo Electronic Materials Co., Ltd. (CEO: Moohyun LIM), as a only Korean company, holds the facility for producing CCFL fluorescent substance of about 300 tons per year.
The Korean LED companies, such as Samsung Electronics, LG Innotek, Seoul Semiconductor and others, have increased the use of the TAG-based fluorescent substance, the patent of which is owned by Osram or the silicate-based fluorescent substance, the patent of which is owned by the four foreign companies including Toyoda Gosei and others, to avoid infringement of the YAG fluorescent substance of Nichia. Since the YAG-based fluorescent substance is most advantageous in realizing high-brightness, these are falling behind in following the application tendency of demanding the brighter LED, such as an automobile headlight, a backlight unit (BLU) and the like.


3. ¡®Gmail¡¯ of Google is registrable as a trademark

Google, a search engine company, submitted a trial for cancellation of the decision to reject the service mark to the commissioner of KIPO, requesting that ¡®Gmail¡¯, an email service, should be registered as a trademark. On June 17, 2007, the judgment of the Fifth Division of the Korean Patent Court (Chief Judge: Myoungsoo KIM) was given for Google. The judge stated in the decision that this trademark (service mark) combining the figure of an envelope in which the English characters ¡®G¡¯ and ¡®M¡¯ are bold with ¡®ail¡¯ is unlikely to be recognized as a general e-mail service in terms of the entire constitution.
That is, the constitution of the trademark is considered as being creative and distinctive.
The judge added, ¡°when considering that the plaintiff is in business, such as the internet search service, advertisement and the like, through ¡®Google¡¯ which is the biggest internet search engine in the world, the possibility that ¡®Gmail¡¯ is recognized as the mail service of Google is not low.¡±
Google filed an application for the trademark ¡®Gmail¡¯ with KIPO on May 2006. However, the trademark was rejected on the ground that it used a common name/term and thus could not be registered. Although Google filed an appeal against the rejection, the appeal was dismissed on the same ground.


4. From ¡®Made in China¡¯ to ¡®Chinese Brand¡¯
The number of Korean trademark applications filed by Chinese companies is rapidly increasing.

Now, Chinese companies are accelerating exporting goods with their own brands applied, to enter Korean markets.
According to KIPO, the number of trademark applications filed with KIPO by Chinese companies, which was only 220 in 2003, increased to 716 in 2005 and 1129 in 2007 or by more than five times in the last five years.
When comparing with the increase (1.2 times) in the total number of Korean trademark applications filed by the foreign applicants during the same period, the increase in the number of Korean trademark applications filed by the Chinese companies is remarkable. This implies that Chinese companies are actively raising and protecting their own brands in the Korean markets.
Classified by industrial fields, before 2000, Chinese companies filed relatively more trademark applications in the fields of raw materials and foods/drinks, for example, 10.3% in chemical/fertilizer, 8.0% in tea/grain, 7.4% in liquor and others. However, recently, the trademark applications filed by Chinese companies have been increasing in the fields of higher value-added business, such as 12.4% in electric/electronic, 7.1% in industrial machine and the like, and 12.3% in clothes/shoes.

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