To adopt a new official slogan and declare IP Protection Week (April 24-28) -
On April 22, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), together with public and private organizations like Naver; SK; eBay Korea; Forward Ventures; the Presidential Council on IP; the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; and the Korea Customs Service, among others, held a special IP Protection Day ceremony at the National Library of Korea. The event was held in conjunction with “World IP Day,” which falls on April 26.
This was the second year in a row that KIPO has held such a ceremony. The first occurred last year, in the wake of a working agreement made between government agencies like the Presidential Council on IP and private companies like Naver. The purpose of the working agreement was to foster a national culture that understands and respects the value of IP. Both ceremonies helped to further this goal by promoting public or private collaborations among governmental agencies and raising public awareness of why IP protection is essential for industrial development and national economic growth.
At the ceremony, a new IP-protection campaign slogan was chosen. This slogan, "One small step for IP protection; one giant step for national competitiveness," was the first such slogan to be selected via an open contest. The ceremony introduced us to "College Student Supporters," a campus group dedicated to pushing for increased IP protection nationwide. It also exhibited both authentic goods, demonstrating the difference between the two. In addition, we launched a campaign for collecting signatures from 10,000 different families as a way of promoting the use of authentic goods.
On the afternoon following the ceremony, KIPO, the Korea Trade Commission, the Korea Customs Service, the Presidential Council on IP, the Korea Consumer Agency, and other governmental agencies, along with foreign company groups, such as the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea, and the Seoul Japan Club, held an "IP rights Protection Conference" to actively promote Korean IP-protection policies targeted to foreign companies doing business in Korea.
"IP Protection Week" lasts from April 24-28. During this event, the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Association, the Copyright Protection Center, the Trade-related IPR Protection Center, and other public agencies involved with IPR protection, in addition to private companies like Naver, will jointly hold exhibitions on discerning authentic goods from counterfeits, signature-collecting campaigns to promote IP awareness among the general public, and other IP-related activities. These events will take place in Myeong-dong, Dongdaemun, the Ewha Women’s University district, and other major commercial areas.
"For a creative economy to blossom, we must create and utilize IP, as well as properly acknowledge and respect the value of creative ideas and inventions," said KIPO Deputy Commissioner Jun-seok Lee. "Today's event was meaningful in that, by spreading respect for IP throughout Korea, we have strengthened the IP protection ecosystem—a key factor in building a creative economy."
