Administrator Kim Wanki (right) and Tan Kong Hwee, the Commissioner of the Singapore Intellectual Property Office, are taking a commemorative photo after signing the MOU./Korean Intellectual Property Office

The Korean Intellectual Property Office held bilateral talks with eight ASEAN countries and discussed various cooperation measures, including intellectual property protection, intellectual property finance, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises, on the 3rd.

The meeting was held from the 1st to the 3rd at the Hotel Naroo M Gallery in Mapo-gu, Seoul, in conjunction with the 8th Korea-ASEAN Intellectual Property Office Directors' Meeting. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam participated, along with the observer country East Timor.

A depth cooperation memorandum of understanding was signed with Singapore to add information exchanges related to artificial intelligence (AI), intellectual property finance, and value evaluation to the existing cooperation fields of capacity building, commercialization, and user exchanges.

Administrator Kim Wanki is taking a commemorative photo after the bilateral meeting on intellectual property with 8 ASEAN countries. (From the top left, clockwise) Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia high-level officials/Administrator of the Korean Intellectual Property Office

Specific cooperation work plans were established with Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia in five areas: law and systems, education, protection, trademark cooperation, and awareness enhancement. In particular, in the field of intellectual property protection, various activities, including sharing best practices, online and offline counterfeit product crackdowns, comparative legal research, and information exchange to prevent malicious trademark applications, are expected to strengthen the protection of patents and trademarks for our corporations in ASEAN.

Discussions were held with the observer country East Timor on future cooperation directions related to the establishment of the Intellectual Property Office, promoted with the support of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Korean Trust Fund (KTF).

Kim Wan-ki, head of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, noted, "This meeting has solidified intellectual property cooperation with ASEAN countries, and we will continue to actively support our corporations so they do not face difficulties with patent and trademark issues in the ASEAN market by strengthening bilateral cooperation tailored to each country's situation."

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