Preventing technology leaks through the patent office in South Korea: lessons for Ukraine

The article provides an economic and legal analysis of measures to ensure economic security and prevent leaks of technological secrets used by the Government of South Korea and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). On October 17, 2024, KIPO presentedand approved «Measures to Combat Technology Leakage to Strengthen Global Industrial Competitiveness.» These measures are expected to strengthen the safety net for advanced technologies that are critical to the survival of domestic companies and economic security. They were formulated to address the potential national damage caused by the increasing leakage of advanced technologies in industries such as semiconductor manufacturing andsecondary batteries. The plan aims to create a national technology protection system to prevent technology theft that hinders the growth of SMEs and venture capital companies, thereby increasing global industrial competitiveness and contributing to a dynamic economy. The leading role in the creation of a national technology protection system in South Korea belongs to KIPO. For this purpose, KIPO has made changes to current procedural and patent legislation and the Law on the Prevention of Unfair Competition and the Protection of Commercial Secrets. It plans to introduce a preventive system to prevent technology leakage using patent analysis of big data and technical expert research. KIPO is improving digital response systems and introducing an idea certification system. It is alsostrengthening cooperation with counterintelligence agencies. The guidelines for punishments for crimes in the technological sphere related to the violation of IP rights and technologies have been revised. Revised guidelines entered into force in July 2024 to implementstricter standards for trade secret misappropriation and theft of industrial technology, set separate sentencing standards for crimes related to «industrial technology» and «national basic technology», provide stricter penalties for violations, especially those occurring abroad. The state of leakage of technologies in Ukraine is analyzed, mechanisms of their countermeasures are proposed.