Indonesia and South Korea Strengthen Intellectual Property Cooperation

Image Credits: Humas DJKI / Kemenkumham RI (https://dgip.go.id/)

Marking 50 years of diplomatic relationship between South Korea and Indonesia, on Friday, September 8^th, 2023, the Directorate General of Intellectual Property from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia (DJKI) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU). This is a huge step in the right direction for DJKI towards becoming a top IP office considering KIPO is now among the top 6 best IP offices in the world according to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).

The first MoU was aimed at building Comprehensive Cooperation on Intellectual Property (IP) matters between DGIP and KIPO. The cooperation encompasses a wide range of objectives, among which are to increase the capacity of IP, to establish IP frameworks, and to enhance IP protection, examination, and utilization. This will be achieved through exchanging knowledge and experience to improve the execution of the Indonesian national IP strategy, especially concerning trending issues such as IP financing, IP investments, and IP marketplace. On top of that, both parties are also hopeful to collaborate on the development of IP academy in the future for the betterment of IP literacy in both countries.

The second MoU focuses on the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH). In recent years, global awareness concerning the significance of patent protection in stimulating national and international economic growth has been raised. This can be seen in the increasing number of filed patent applications worldwide. Therefore, a timely and efficient administration from IP offices is crucial for the patent owners to gain maximum benefit. PPH is a mechanism that will help to meet those needs by speeding up the patent prosecution process for patent applicants from both countries. When a patent application has been examined by the patent office in the first country and is allowed to be granted, the substantive examination in the second country will be conducted based on the results of the substantive examination in the first country. In addition to that, the cost of patent prosecution is also very likely to be reduced.