Korean Patent Attorneys Association, "Public Patent Evaluation... Only a Few High-Quality Patents with Competitiveness"

Patent evaluation grade classification and criteria derived through 'AxisValue'. Provided by the Korean Patent Attorneys Association.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] An evaluation of patent quality at public research institutions revealed that "only a very small number of patents are competitive high-quality patents."

The Korean Patent Attorneys Association announced on the 20th that, among 420 patents registered at the Korean Intellectual Property Office by 19 domestic public research institutes from January to February, 384 patents classified as reliable were evaluated for investment using 'EXsys Value.' The result showed that only one patent met the 'Excellent' category, which corresponds to PA grade 2 or higher.

EXsys Value is a 'patent grading evaluation system' based on expert assessment developed by the Patent Attorneys Association. It is conducted through qualitative evaluations by patent attorneys, employing the Delphi method to aggregate the evaluations of multiple patent attorney groups on individual patents.

The recent evaluation of 19 public research institutes was conducted as a pilot operation for the official launch of EXsys Value scheduled for next month. A total of 446 patent attorneys participated in the evaluation.

The average PA grade of the 384 patents evaluated was 4.63, and seven institutions, including the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, received PA grades above the average among the evaluated organizations.

The PA grade refers to a classification from 1 to 10 based on expert scores on patent validity, scope of protection, strength of protection, and conformity to technological trends, with lower grades indicating superior patents.

In this evaluation using EXsys Value, the most common grade was the investment evaluation 'Average (PA grades 5-6),' indicating that intellectual property competitiveness is moderate and continuous efforts are needed for commercialization, according to the Patent Attorneys Association. Patents in this grade accounted for 222 out of 384 patents (57.8%).

By institution, the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (PA 4.09), Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (PA 4.19), and Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (PA 4.30) received relatively high PA grades.

The only patent to receive a PA grade 2 in the evaluation was from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), titled "Indazole derivative compounds and pharmaceutical compositions containing the same for prevention, improvement, or treatment of cancer."

Hong Jang-won, president of the Patent Attorneys Association, stated, "For national research and development (R&D) projects funded by taxpayers' money to operate efficiently, proper evaluation of patents, which are the outcomes of R&D projects, is necessary. The Patent Attorneys Association will strive to establish and operate a patent evaluation system that combines expertise and reliability through consultations with government agencies and related organizations."