[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 20th that he will reduce the patent examination period for startups to three months.
On the afternoon of the same day, Lee posted on his social media (SNS), "In an era of fierce technological competition, we will help startups secure core technologies as soon as possible to get ahead in the competition," and announced his 50th 'Sohwakhaeng (small but certain happiness)' pledge. He mentioned, "A single patent examiner reviews 206 cases annually, spending only 10.8 hours per case. At this speed and quality, we cannot stay ahead in the increasingly fierce technological competition."
To this end, he promised to dramatically improve the speed and quality of patent examinations. First, he said he would greatly expand preferential examinations for startups and innovative technologies and shorten the examination period to three months. He plans to focus personnel on patent examinations by streamlining the Patent Office's organization. Additionally, he intends to hire 1,000 retired master's and doctoral-level experts on a professional term basis to double the number of examiners and halve the general examination period. Lee emphasized, "We will cultivate excellent examination talent through talent development programs."
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