President Yoon Suk Yeol (right) on May 29 poses for a photo while shaking hands with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of the United Arab Emirates, during a summit at the Office of the President in Seoul. (Yang Seung Hak from Office of the President)e of the President)

By Yoo Yeon Gyeong

The country will export its intellectual property (IP) training services to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on May 30 said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the UAE's Ministry of Economy to raise the Arab state's IP capacity.

Under the deal, KIPO will lead a program to boost the capacity of IP systems and patent applications and the latter's screening for patent examiners employed by the UAE.

KIPO will accordingly devise and run basic courses and competency training for newly hired patent officers, things that are expected to share and spread Korea's IP system throughout the UAE.

This is the first time for Korea to export its IP training systems for new patent screeners.

Korea maintains close cooperation in IP with its Middle Eastern partners such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

In 2014, Korea and the UAE signed an MOU on patent screening that deployed 19 Korean patent officials to the UAE to screen patent applications in there. In 2018, Korea completed a joint project to build a patent information system in the Mideast country. 

A KIPO official said, "We will strive to widen cooperation in the IP sector with other Middle Eastern countries to spread Korea's advanced systems and make the environment there favorable for Korean companies."

dusrud21@korea.kr