LSIPR 50 2018: Sung Yunmo

Name: Sung Yunmo

Organisation: Korean Intellectual Property Office

Position: Commissioner General

Having taken up the role of commissioner at the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) in July 2017, Sung Yunmo is still relatively new to the position. But, with years of experience behind him in government, he’s well equipped to tackle the demanding role at hand.

Prior to his current position, he served as deputy minister for economic policy coordination, in the office for government policy coordination under the Prime Minister—a role he took up after acting as spokesperson for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Yunmo appears on our list in part because of the pivotal role that he played in securing trilateral cooperation between KIPO, China’s State Intellectual Property Office and the Japan Patent Office.

The cooperation marks the first time that the three IP offices have adopted a cooperative framework.

The coming together of minds was agreed upon at the 17th Trilateral IP Offices (TRIPO) Heads Meeting in December 2017, hosted by KIPO. The new partnership will see the offices undertake regular discussions on the development of the global IP system.

The US and Europe might be at the forefront of the development of patent systems, but the world should be paying attention to East Asia in the future, said Yunmo at the meeting.

According to a World Intellectual Property Organization report, South Korea filed the fifth most Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications (15,763) last year.