The Korean Intellectual Property Office announced on the 3rd that it has newly appointed 51 patent examiners in the fields of bio, advanced robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Among them, there are 35 in bio, 13 in advanced robotics, and 3 in AI.
Since 2023, the Korean Intellectual Property Office has been hiring private experts in national strategic technology fields as patent examiners. It has hired 67 in the semiconductor field and 38 in the secondary battery field over the past two years. With this recruitment, private experts were also brought in for the bio, advanced robotics, and AI fields.
Starting from the 19th of this month, the Korean Intellectual Property Office plans to expand the subjects of priority examination to include bio, advanced robotics, and AI. If designated as a subject for priority examination, the patent application examination period will be shortened to two months.
The newly appointed private experts will work as specialized term patent examiners (equivalent to grade 5). The Korean Intellectual Property Office explained that nearly 90% of the staff holds advanced degrees, with 38 having doctoral degrees and 7 holding master's degrees.
Kim Wan-ki, head of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, noted, "I will do my best to actively utilize the expertise and capabilities of the newly appointed examiners to provide fast and accurate high-quality patent examination services in the national strategic technologies of bio, advanced robotics, and AI."