South Korea and China on Monday signed a partnership agreement to strengthen cooperation on intellectual property protection, on the sidelines of the summit between the respective Presidents Lee Jae Myung and Xi Jinping.
According to Seoul's Ministry of Intellectual Property, the new memorandum of understanding expands and upgrades the cooperative framework first established in 2021, significantly broadening the scope of bilateral cooperation.
Areas covered include measures to prevent counterfeit goods, the use of artificial intelligence and big data in patent examination and analysis, as well as the promotion of intellectual property trading, commercialization and finance.
The ministry stated the partnership is designed to improve the business environment for Korean companies in China by enabling faster acquisition and stronger protection of their intellectual property rights, ultimately enhancing their competitiveness in the local market.
Ahead of the signing, Ministry of Intellectual Property Commissioner Kim Yong-sun held a bilateral meeting with Shen Changyu, commissioner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, on Sunday to discuss intellectual property policies, the current status of cooperation and future strategic directions.
The two sides also agreed to strengthen joint responses to “bad-faith trademark filings,” a practice in which trademarks already in use by others are preemptively registered for unfair commercial gain.
“This memorandum and the enhanced cooperation against bad-faith trademark squatting will help more effectively protect Korean brands operating in China,” Kim said. “We will continue to strengthen international cooperation in intellectual property to support our companies’ exports and global expansion.”
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