The Korean Intellectual Property Office will be elevated to the Prime Minister's Office as the "Intellectual Property Administration" and newly launched on Oct. 1 with the enforcement of the amended Government Organization Act. As the control tower of national intellectual property policy, the Intellectual Property Administration will establish, oversee, and coordinate whole-of-government intellectual property policies.
In line with the launch, an organizational reshuffle was carried out to strengthen core functions. The organization, previously composed of 1 office, 9 bureaus, 1 headquarters, 57 divisions, 3 affiliated agencies, and 1,785 personnel, was expanded and reorganized into 1 office, 10 bureaus, 1 headquarters, 62 divisions, 3 affiliated agencies, and 1,800 personnel.
The biggest change in the reorganization is the creation of the Intellectual Property Dispute Response Bureau. Work that had been performed at the division level will be expanded to the bureau level to support swift, national-level responses when intellectual property disputes arise. It will also oversee and coordinate intellectual property tasks dispersed across ministries to prevent protection blind spots, and it plans to put in place safeguards for new intellectual property.
A dedicated support body responsible for the creation, utilization, and transaction of intellectual property will also be established. By strengthening inter-ministerial collaboration so that government research and development (R&D) and utilization policies are shaped from an intellectual property perspective, it plans to help outstanding intellectual property become a growth engine for the national economy.
As the control tower of national intellectual property policy, the Intellectual Property Administration will make it a top priority to formulate cross-ministerial policies that support securing Korea's industrial competitiveness, while building an environment where, going forward, intellectual property created by our people and corporations is actively transacted in the market and everyone can operate freely without worrying about intellectual property disputes.