KIPO Signs IP MOU With Russia
07 March 2014
The Korean Intellectual Property Office signed a memorandum of understanding on comprehensive cooperation in intellectual property rights with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) of Russia at a heads meeting between the two offices held in Daejeon, Korea, on February 27, 2014.
The MOU is aimed at the advancement and development of new cooperation in IPRs between the two countries, which in recent years has seen little progress. This is highly meaningful in that it will prepare the foundations to support bilateral cooperation in cutting-edge technologies, which was discussed at a summit meeting held between the Korean and Russian presidents in November last year.
The MOU develops upon existing cooperation in common prior art searches, and also enhances cooperation through the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), patent information exchanges, the provision of traditional knowledge database, and training on IPRs, for which both countries have shown much interest recently.
The number of IPR applications between Korea and Russia is expected to grow due to cooperation on implementing the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)-PPH. In addition, IPR data exchanges will further improve the efficiency of examination in both patent offices and meet the demand for Russian patent information by Korean companies. Rospatent staff will also be able to use the traditional knowledge data, which contains around 310,000 Korean products, in examination, helping to expand the base of international protection for Korean traditional knowledge.
The meeting also lays the groundwork for other cooperative activities, with the president of the Russia State Institute of Intellectual Property also participating and agreeing to close cooperation on ‘IPR talent fostering’ through the dispatch of IP experts and exchange programmes on IP education, among other things. Cooperation with the institute will provide an opportunity to develop and nurture global IPR experts in a period where patent wars are increasing and becoming more severe.
With the expansion of bilateral trade, there is expected to be an increase in the number of applications by Koreans in Russia. As such, both parties discussed measures to hold seminars on Russia’s IP system for Korean companies planning to enter the market and to carry out joint research on building IPR support structures to merges Russia’s basic technology with Korea’s commercial technology.
“Russia is one of the top seven IP countries in the world and it is particularly strong in basic sciences and fundamental technology. IPR cooperation with Russia will provide Korea with an opportunity to benefit from this as we set a direction for an IP-based creative economy,” said KIPO Commissioner Kim Young-min.
