Jijaewi and Supreme Court Hold International Conference on European Patents and Asian Intellectual Property Cooperation

The National Intellectual Property Committee announced on the 10th that it jointly held the "International Conference on the Current Status of the European Unified Patent System and the Future of Intellectual Property Cooperation in Asia" with the Supreme Court.

This conference was organized to review the current status of the European Unified Patent System amid intensifying intellectual property disputes among companies striving to secure leadership in the global market, and to discuss tasks to strengthen intellectual property protection and cooperation within the Asian region.

On the day, Supreme Court Justice No Tae-ak delivered a keynote speech titled "The Need for a New International Intellectual Property (IP) Dispute Resolution System," raising the necessity for a new international IP dispute resolution system considering situations such as the concentration of global patent litigation in certain courts favorable to patent holders, extraterritorial application of domestic laws in standard patent disputes, and borderless IP infringement on the internet.

In the first session that followed, Klaus Grabinski, Presiding Judge of the European Unified Patent Court (UPC) Court of Appeal, presented on the topic "Current Status and Implications of Litigation at the European Unified Patent Court (UPC)." According to the European Patent Office, the number of European unitary patents held by country (percentage by country) was as follows: EPO member states 62.7%, United States 15.4%, China 5.7%, Korea 4.1%, and Japan 3.8%. Additionally, the companies holding the most European unitary patents were Siemens (Germany) with 776, Johnson & Johnson (United States) with 738, Samsung (Korea) with 651, Qualcomm (United States) with 562, and Volvo (Sweden) with 422.

In the second session, "Trends and Response Strategies for European Unitary Patents," Carl Josefsson, President of the European Patent Office Board of Appeal, presented on trends in European patent appeals, oppositions, and invalidity lawsuits. In particular, the European Patent Office Board of Appeal emphasized the importance of requesting accelerated examination and appeals when filing oppositions and appeals against patents involved in ongoing infringement litigation, as part of efforts to shorten the appeal period.

Meanwhile, Heli Pihlajamaa, Senior Director of the European Patent Office (EPO), presented on trends in European unitary patents and explained new services that Korean companies should be aware of when filing European patents, including the Unitary Patent Dashboard (July 2023), Priority Examination for Oppositions (January 2024), MyEPO (April 2024), and the European Unitary Patent Guidelines (scheduled for April 2025).

In the final third session, Judge Lee Hye-jin of the Patent Court and Park Sung-pil, Dean of the Graduate School of Future Strategy at KAIST, presented on "The Future and Preparatory Tasks of the Asian Intellectual Property Community," and domestic and international IP experts discussed ways to strengthen international IP cooperation in Asia to contribute to resolving global patent disputes.

Lee Kwang-hyung, Private Committee Member of the National Intellectual Property Committee, stated, "I hope this meaningful opportunity to share experiences of the European Unified Patent System will serve as a foundation to consider directions for intellectual property cooperation in Asia," adding, "Going forward, the National Intellectual Property Committee will do its best to strengthen intellectual property cooperation in the Asian region."