KIPO welcomes new commissioner

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

KIPO welcomes new commissioner

President Myung-bak Lee has appointed a new Commissioner, Ho-won Kim, to head the Korea Intellectual Property Office. Kim’s term began on May 1

According to Eun Kyul Park, deputy director of the multilateral affairs division, Kim stresses the importance of intellectual property as a source of global competitiveness.

He also says that one of his goals is to increase the timeliness and quality of patent examinations in South Korea.

Kim has served in high-level positions in the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. His previous roles in the Korean government include deputy minister for regulatory reform, standing commissioner of the Korea Trade Commission, and director general of the Industrial Technology Bureau.

Most recently, he was the deputy minister for national agenda in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Kim has a PhD in public administration from Chung-Ang University, and master’s degrees from Seoul National University and the University of California, San Diego. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Pusan National University.

Look for Managing IP’s interview with Commissioner Kim in our June issue.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

New awards, including US ‘Firm of the Year’ and Latin America ‘Firm to Watch’, are among more than 90 prizes that will recognise firms and practitioners
DWF helped client Dairy UK secure a major victory at the UK Supreme Court
Hepworth Browne led Emotional Perception AI to victory at the UK Supreme Court, which rejected a previous appellate decision that said an AI network was not patentable
James Hill, general counsel at Norwich City FC, reveals how he balances fan engagement with brand enforcement, and when he calls on IP firms for advice
In the second of a two-part article, Gabrielle Faure-André and Stéphanie Garçon at Santarelli unpick EPO, UPC and French case law to assess the importance of clinical development timelines in inventive step analyses
Public figures are turning to trademark protection to combat the threat of AI deepfakes and are monetising their brand through licensing deals, a trend that law firms are keen to capitalise on
News of Avanci Video signing its first video licence and a win for patent innovators in Australia were also among the top talking points
Tom Melsheimer, part of a nine-partner team to join King & Spalding from Winston & Strawn, says the move reflects Texas’s appeal as a venue for high-stakes patent litigation
AI patents and dairy trademarks are at the centre of two judgments to be handed down next week
Jennifer Che explains how taking on the managing director role at her firm has offered a new perspective, and why Hong Kong is seeing a life sciences boom
Gift this article