The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises (KFSME) noted that on the 27th, discussions were held at the KFSME in Yeouido, Seoul, regarding the current issues of intellectual property rights for small and medium enterprises with Kim Wan-ki, head of the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
Kim Gi-mun, president of the KFSME, said, "The reason 90% of export corporations embroiled in intellectual property disputes abandon lawsuits is that the time and expense incurred in litigation are burdensome," and emphasized, "It is necessary to significantly expand support for litigation expenses and legal consultations related to intellectual property disputes and to further enhance collaboration to protect companies entering overseas markets." He further stated, "To shorten the long examination processing period, which is a typical hardship during the patent acquisition process, we need to increase the number of examiners for general examination subjects."
Kim Wan-ki, head of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, responded, "We will promote the reduction of patent examination periods to commercialize innovative technologies for our corporations and provide thorough support from securing optimized intellectual property rights in the target countries to preventing and responding to disputes in local markets, ensuring that export corporations can successfully enter global markets."
Meanwhile, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as of 2023, the scale of counterfeit goods of Korean products abroad amounts to 11 trillion won, with sales losses reaching 7 trillion won.