Korea intellectual property office, arms procurement agency sign defense IP pact

The Korea Intellectual Property Office said Tuesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration to help Korean defense companies protect their technology and handle intellectual property disputes as weapons exports grow.

The agreement links the two agencies' policies and support programs so that defense technology is protected from research and development through civilian use and overseas sales, the office said. It covers joint work on preventing and responding to IP disputes and technology leaks in the defense sector, education and consulting for defense companies, sharing overseas IP information, and strengthening the creation and management of intellectual property from military R&D. The two agencies also plan to supply specialists and patent analysis for protecting defense technology.

"Technology leaks and patent disputes are life-or-death issues for companies, affecting entire export contracts and schedules once they occur, so preparing in advance is more important than anything," Korea Intellectual Property Office Commissioner Kim Yong-sun said. "We will link the IP expertise the office has built up with the defense sector so our defense companies can compete from R&D to export without IP worries."

Defense Acquisition Program Administration chief Lee Yong-cheol said securing and systematically protecting and using technologies as intellectual property is as important as developing them, because the competitiveness of advanced defense technology translates directly into competitiveness of the defense industry. "With this agreement as an opportunity, we will closely link the IP office's expertise with the procurement agency's defense R&D and defense company support systems to strengthen the foundation for our companies to compete stably in domestic and overseas markets," Lee said.

The agreement comes as global defense spending exceeds $3 trillion a year and Korean arms exports keep rising. Defense export orders came to $13.5 billion in 2023, $9.5 billion in 2024 and $15.4 billion in 2025, according to a 2026 estimate by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade cited by the office. The office said risks of leaks of core defense technology, patent and trade-secret infringement and disputes are also growing during exports, technology transfers and local cooperation overseas.

About 4,000 defense patent technologies in mechanical, electrical and electronics and information and communications fields are registered on the Defense Technology Trading Market, an online platform that transfers and commercializes defense technologies developed by bodies including the Agency for Defense Development, according to the office.