Five intellectual property experts of the IP5, a global patent cooperation framework, are gathering in Busan this week for a meeting hosted by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
Launched in 2008, the conference aims to enhance the efficiency and stability of patent rights.
The host country’s KIPO commissioner, Kim Young-min, is a former director general for trade and Industrial cooperation at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. He served as a deputy commissioner at KIPO from 2011-2013.
State Intellectual Property Office of China Commissioner Shen Chang Yu
Since being appointed to the post in March 2013, Kim has been making efforts to help Korean companies respond to intellectual property protection issues overseas.
European Patent Office President Benoit Battistelli is a former director general of the French National Institute for Industrial Property. He began his five-year term as the EPO president in July 2010.
The Japan Patent Office Commissioner Hideo Hato is another patent guru who has been stressing the key role of IP in the Japanese government’s economic recovery. Before begin named the JPO commissioner in June 2013, he served as president at the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.
The Chinese State Intellectual Property Office Commissioner Shen Chang Yu was appointed to the post in December 2013. Shen had been working as president of the Dalian University of Technology, where he graduated with a doctorate in engineering in 1990.
Prior to his role as commissioner, Shen worked at an office that made a contribution to driving global patent filings, according to 2013 figures from the World Intellectual Property Office. The data shows that Chinese residents filed 560,681 patent cases in 2012, the largest figure worldwide in 2012.
United States Patent and Trademark Office Deputy Director Michelle K. Lee is a principal adviser to the secretary of commerce for both domestic and overseas IP issues.
Lee was selected in 2012 to serve as the first director of the Silicon Valley United States Patent and Trademark Office. There she was responsible for establishing and leading the Silicon Valley office and the USPTO on various policy matters.
By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)