45 Intellectual Property Applications Indonesia filed in South Korea

JAKARTA: After three year absent since 2019, companies and investors from Indonesia have, since 2022, filed an intellectual property application to South Korea in order to obtain legal protection.

According to the data from the Korean Intellectual Property Organization (KIPO), in 2022 the number of intellectual property application from Indonesia to South Korea, reached 45 filed applications. The number itself consists of 44 trademark and 1 patent applications.

Companies and investors from Indonesia last filed an intellectual property application to South Korea in 2018 prior to the Covid pandemic. In that year, according to the statsitics from KIPO, the number of intellectual property applications from Indonesia reached 81 applications. The applications consist of 3 patent request, 1 industrial design, and 77 trademark applications.

In 2019, with the outbreak of Covid, not a single application of intellectual property from Indonesia to South Korea was filed at KIPO, this trend continued on until the year 2021.

The number of intellectual property applications from Indonesia for the future is believed to grow faster after the cooperation between KIPO and Directory General of Intellectual Property (DJKI) at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

KIPO and DJKI have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding between the two party in Jakarta recently. Director General of Intellectual Property, Min Usihen, during an offical statement hoped this understanding can provide certainty to the process of creation, protection, and effective utilization of their rights.

During their first meeting, Commissioner Lee Insil and Director General of Intellectual Property, Min Usihen, signed a memorandum of understanding on comprehensive cooperation that lays a solid foundation for active bilateral cooperation between KIPO and DJKI in the fields of intellectual property, including examination, protection, enforcement of intellectual property, and so on.

According to Min, cooperation with KIPO is strategic because it has a sophisticated system and is ranked in the top six in the world in terms of intellectual property.

She further explained the steps that will be taken to support this cooperation include exchanging information and experiences in forming and implementing national intellectual property strategies, overcoming intellectual property violations, and South Korea's experience in commercial utilization of intellectual property.

Furthermore, during this cooperation there will also be an exchange of information on how to increase public awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights protection, as well as efforts to increase employee competence, especially in the examination section.

The year 2023 will be a crucial year for Indonesia and South Korea, as it signified the 50 years diplomatic relations between the two countries. "I hope that the cooperation we have made today will benefit both sides and that our cooperation will last for a long time," she said. (JP-MGK/su)