The Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is launching a special judicial police unit dedicated to cases involving the leakage of advanced technologies such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI). The agency will also increase its technology-related special judicial police force from 27 to 61 officers.
Kim Yong-sun, Commissioner of the Korea Intellectual Property Office, announced the "Plan to Expand and Reorganize the Technology Leak and Theft Response System" at the Daejeon Government Complex on Wednesday. Under the reorganization, KIPO will establish a Technology Leak Special Judicial Police Division, an Intellectual Property Protection Analysis Division, and an Intellectual Property Protection Standards Team. As a result, the agency's technology crime response organization will expand from one division to four. Through staff reassignment and the appointment of additional special judicial police, the technology police force will be expanded from 27 to 61 officers.
The Technology Leak Special Judicial Police Division will take charge of investigating trade secret leak cases in advanced fields such as semiconductors and AI. Opinions have long been raised that a dedicated investigative organization was needed, citing that proving allegations in trade secret leak cases is more difficult than in advanced technology patent infringement cases. Accordingly, KIPO decided to separate investigations of patent infringement and trade secret leak cases, concentrating advanced technology trade secret leak investigations in the newly created division. The division will be staffed with 21 investigators and will include experts such as those with patent examination experience, lawyers, patent attorneys, and engineering doctorate holders. In addition, KIPO is pursuing an amendment to the Act on the Duties of Judicial Police Officers so that special judicial police can investigate cases involving national core and advanced strategic technologies.
Strengthening the response to technology leaks is also a key policy initiative of the current administration. At a government ministry work report last December, Commissioner Kim recommended to President Lee Jae-myung that "the technology police is the only organization with both technological expertise and investigative expertise," adding that "it needs to be increased to at least 100 officers." At the time, President Lee responded, "It seems like a necessary task," and said, "Let's discuss it with the relevant ministries, and if it doesn't work out, let's discuss it at a cabinet meeting."
The newly created Intellectual Property Protection Analysis Division will analyze patent big data to proactively detect high-risk areas for technology leaks. It will be responsible for establishing measures to prevent technology leaks in advance through technology protection and economic security analysis. The Intellectual Property Protection Standards Team will systematically organize investigation guidelines and compulsory investigation standards to lay an institutional foundation for the entire investigative process. Through this, the agency plans to respond so that there is no decline in investigation quality due to changes in the investigation command structure between the prosecution and the special judicial police.
In addition, KIPO will operate an investigation review committee to allow consultation with outside experts in cases of compulsory investigations, which carry a high risk of infringing on basic rights. It will also strengthen human rights protections during the investigation process through measures such as substantively guaranteeing the right to counsel, expanding mandatory video recording, and introducing a system to notify parties of case progress. In cooperation with the National Police Agency, the agency plans to pursue advancing investigation manuals, education, and mutual personnel dispatch.
"We will secure the golden time for detecting technology crimes and protect the technologies of our companies, solidifying the foundation for advancing toward becoming a technology powerhouse with an insurmountable lead," Commissioner Kim said.
