<기사제목>Korea Federation of SMEs Discusses SME Intellectual Property Protection Measures with KIPO

"Need to Expand Protection for Companies Entering Overseas Markets"

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced on the 27th that it discussed intellectual property issues of small and medium-sized enterprises with the Korean Intellectual Property Office at the Federation's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.

According to the OECD, the scale of counterfeit Korean products overseas in 2023 amounts to 11 trillion won, resulting in sales losses of 7 trillion won. As damages from counterfeit K-brand products increase, the importance of protecting and supporting intellectual property rights is growing.

Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, "The reason 90% of export SMEs involved in intellectual property disputes give up litigation is due to the burden of time and costs involved in lawsuits," adding, "It is necessary to significantly expand support for litigation costs and legal consultations related to intellectual property disputes, and to further enhance collaboration to protect companies expanding overseas."

He continued, "To shorten the long examination processing period, which is a representative difficulty during the patent acquisition process, it is necessary to increase the number of examiners handling general examinations."

Kim Wan-ki, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, "We will promote the shortening of patent examination periods to commercialize our companies' innovative technologies, and provide thorough support from securing intellectual property rights optimized for the target countries to preventing and responding to disputes locally, so that export SMEs can succeed in global expansion."