IP agency rewards staff for protecting K-brands, advancing IP diplomacy

The Korean Intellectual Property Office has recognized staff teams whose bold initiatives — including a government certification system for K-brands, an IP diplomacy drive and an overhaul of the technology-leak response framework — produced tangible results for the public.

The agency held its second Special Performance Award ceremony at the Government Daejeon Complex on Monday, presenting a combined 32 million won ($24,200) to five teams that led "K-intellectual property protection and diplomacy" efforts and achieved outstanding results in safeguarding the rights of citizens and businesses while raising the country's international standing.

The first award went to the team that built the world's first government certification system for K-brands, countering 11 trillion won in counterfeit goods circulating overseas (10 million won).

The K-Brand Government Certification Task Force — comprising officials Won Tae-hwan, Seonwoo Han-mo, Lee Seong-hun and Yang Geon-woo — received 10 million won for establishing the world's first pan-government response framework against the 11 trillion won market in counterfeit K-brand goods spreading through overseas markets.

The team built a cooperative framework across seven ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, and secured a supplementary budget of 9.5 billion won to rapidly build policy momentum. It pursued trademark applications and registrations in 73 countries under a national certification trademark, creating a legal basis for the South Korean government to directly request investigations, crackdowns and customs holds from local authorities as the rights holder. The team also integrated advanced AI authentication technology into the national certification trademark, completing a technical safety net to strengthen surveillance across global distribution networks.

The second award recognized the team that established K-IP diplomacy as a shield for Korean companies' intellectual property overseas (7 million won).

The International Cooperation Division's bilateral and multilateral cooperation team — comprising officials Kang Hui-man, Gam Yu-rim, Yun Ji-yeong and Hwang Yeong-eun — received 7 million won for establishing a national K-intellectual property diplomacy paradigm linked to summit diplomacy.

Leveraging presidential overseas visits and multilateral diplomatic forums, the team expanded the number of IP memoranda of understanding signed in the presence of heads of state by 6.5 times compared with the previous year, from two to 13. It also secured comprehensive cooperation agreements with five Central Asian countries and reached a government-to-government agreement on joint action against malicious trademark squatting in China, building a safety net for Korean companies' overseas IP protection and global expansion.

The third award went to the team that laid the groundwork for a dedicated technology-leak investigation unit to protect the nation's advanced technologies (5 million won).

Officials Kim Ji-eon and Jeong U-yeol received 5 million won for their contributions to expanding and reorganizing the technology-leak response framework. They established three new dedicated technology-leak investigation units, added 28 special judicial police officers and integrated the agency's technical expertise into investigations, dramatically strengthening technology-leak investigation capabilities.

The team also laid the groundwork for early detection and prevention of technology-leak risks using patents, and for building a national technology-leak response strategy. It proactively prepared for changes in the investigative environment brought about by criminal justice system reforms, establishing an investigation oversight framework — setting a new foundation for a national technology protection system encompassing prevention, strategy, investigation and oversight.

The fourth award honored the team that secured the first-ever Interpol red notice leading to the arrest of a fugitive counterfeit goods ringleader (5 million won).

The trademark special judicial police investigation planning team received 5 million won for obtaining an Interpol red notice against the leader of a large-scale counterfeit goods sales organization who had fled to Vietnam, and for becoming the first special judicial police unit to extradite and detain the suspect for indictment.

All team members conducted round-the-clock monitoring in shifts, tracking the suspect's real-time location and relaying it to the local diplomatic mission, enabling the arrest on the ground. Following the suspect's extradition and detention, the ringleader was indicted in custody, three accomplices were indicted without detention, and more than 7,800 counterfeit items with an authentic-goods value of 3.7 billion won were seized in their entirety, raising the agency's investigative profile.

The fifth award recognized the team that overcame an overwhelming workload in processing intermediate formality examinations for patent applications (5 million won).

The application intermediate formality examination team — comprising officials Lee Mi-ok, Im Ji-yeon, Jeong Seon-hui and Yun Su-in — received 5 million won for their efforts to help applicants secure intellectual property rights quickly despite a staff reduction from six to four examiners and an 18.5 percent surge in applications compared with the previous year.

The team processed 825 intermediate formality examinations per person per day — a 33.3 percent increase over the usual workload — while also giving same-day priority to formality examinations for the agency's flagship "ultra-fast priority examination" applications, supporting the swift acquisition of rights by citizens and businesses and exemplifying proactive public administration.

Korean Intellectual Property Office Commissioner Kim Yong-sun said the awards reflected "the passion of everyone, from the policy and planning divisions that develop cross-ministry intellectual property strategies to the operational staff who quietly keep the organization running." He added that the agency would "actively encourage employees' bold challenges in order to keep delivering results that the public can feel."