Korea Intellectual Property Office honors 104 for quality work

The Korea Intellectual Property Office said Wednesday it honored 104 examiners and appeal judges in its 2026 first-half quality competition, part of an effort to improve examination quality. The ceremony was held at 10:30 a.m. at the Government Complex Daejeon on Aug. 19.

The competition was established to encourage individuals and departments that contributed to examination and appeal quality, foster professional pride among examiners and appeal judges, and promote continued quality improvements, the office said.

It also recognized 13 top examination divisions and appeal groups. Among the awardees were Seo Seong-hyeon, one of 96 honored examiners, and Kim Tak-young of Appeals Division 34, among eight honored appeal judges. The office selected recipients based on key quality indicators, efforts to improve examination quality and integrity.

The office is bringing feedback from patent attorneys, applicants and other intellectual-property service users into quality diagnostics and changes to its examination system. It is also upgrading its information-based quality-analysis system and piloting artificial-intelligence agent technology in examination-quality diagnostics.

"I thank the examiners, appeal judges and outstanding departments for the work that earned them this honor. The recipients' expertise, sense of responsibility and unceasing efforts are a driving force behind examination and appeal services the public can trust," Kim Yong-seon, commissioner of the Korea Intellectual Property Office, said.