SEOUL, May 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Pantech Co. South Korea’s smallest smartphone manufacturer that recently announced it will suspend production of mobile devices, turned over 230 U.S. patents to another company, official data showed Sunday. Information provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) showed that Patech, owned by Solid Inc. a local [...]
SEOUL, April 21 (Korea Bizwire) – Smart door locks, incorporating artificial intelligence or Internet of Things technologies, are gradually emerging as the next big trend for security systems in South Korea. According to the Korea Intellectual Property Office, the number of IoT door lock patent applications surged to 27 in 2014 and 48 in 2015. [...]
DAEJEON, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Patent applications for high-tech smart gloves are on the rise. According to the Korea Intellectual Property Office, the number of smart glove patent applications quadrupled over the past five years (2012 to 2016) to an average of 17.8 per year from what was 4.6 patents between 2007 and 2011. [...]
SEOUL, March 15 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean companies must be better prepared to protect their intellectual property (IP) rights, especially when doing business in China, a report said Wednesday, citing a recent rise in IP-related disputes in China. According to the report from the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), the number of IP-related [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – When it comes to innovation and new business models, free rider problems are among the most discouraging practices in the tech industry. Start-ups and SMEs have complained incessantly that conglomerates snatch away and make illicit use of fresh new ideas originally conceived by bright-minded entrepreneurs, thereby severely damaging their [...]
DAEJEON, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) – An increasing number of technology patents that might help guarantee health and safety improvements for single-person elderly households are being introduced. According to the Korea Intellectual Property Office, the average annual number of such patents in the past five years (2012 – 2016) was 153, more than twice the [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – It has been a year since two Korean startup companies – Buzzvil and Yello Mobile – began a legal dispute over a patent for smartphone lock screen apps that pay users, usually in the form of points, when they unlock their smartphones and engage with ads. Such apps have [...]
DAEGU, Jan. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Yoo Won-ki, 48, is the CEO of Haeyang Energy, a small company that he launched in January of last year. Pinning his hopes on one novel idea, he developed a tidal stream generator, filed for a patent in May, and received approval from the Korea Intellectual Property Office last [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea may face a series of lawsuits from U.S. companies over local taxation of their patent income after a Seoul court recently ruled in favor of an American patent management firm in a drawn-out case, watchers said Monday. In a landmark ruling on Dec. 9, the Seoul Administrative [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Samsung Electronics Co. has been granted a patent on the design of a disc-shaped drone, hinting that the electronics giant may make inroads into the booming market for commercial drones, according to South Korea’s patent authority Friday. The patent was filed in April this year and formally registered earlier [...]