Korea-ASEAN Patent Office Heads Meeting... "Strengthening Cooperation in Intellectual Property"

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is strengthening cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the field of intellectual property.

According to KIPO on the 4th, Commissioner Kim Wanki recently attended the '7th Korea-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting' held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, where they discussed workforce development in intellectual property and specific cooperation plans related to artificial intelligence.

Kim Wanki, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (third from the left), is speaking at the Korea-ASEAN Commissioners' Meeting on the 2nd (local time). Photo by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

Korea and ASEAN have maintained a cooperative relationship in the field of intellectual property by holding annual heads of offices meetings since signing a Memorandum of Understanding on intellectual property cooperation in Brunei in 2018.

At this year's meeting, the main discussions focused on workforce development (education) in intellectual property and cooperation in artificial intelligence to implement the 'Joint Declaration on Cooperation in Intellectual Property for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),' which was adopted under the leadership of KIPO at the 5th Heads of Offices Meeting in 2022.

At the meeting, Commissioner Kim agreed to mutually share experiences and know-how related to the learning management system (LMS) that ASEAN is currently building, and discussed ways for domestic institutions to participate in the LMS construction projects in ASEAN countries.

He also introduced cases where artificial intelligence was utilized in areas such as translation, search, and classification to improve the efficiency of intellectual property administration, and agreed to disseminate and share related experiences and know-how with ASEAN member countries through workshops.

Commissioner Kim held bilateral meetings with four countries? the United States, Singapore, the Philippines, and Brunei? to discuss ways to enhance mutual cooperation.

Commissioner Kim said, "ASEAN is an important cooperation partner in Korea's Indo-Pacific strategy, as well as Korea's second-largest trading partner and investment destination. KIPO will strive to strengthen cooperation between both sides in the field of intellectual property through this year's Korea-ASEAN Heads of Offices Meeting to build an innovation ecosystem for sustainable development."