Benefits on Prior Art Search to Korean Language Documents in ICT Fields

Korea becomes one of the largest pools of patent publications in the world. In every year, KIPO receives over 350,000 domestic patent applications with specifications written in Korean. Furthermore, Korea already had the largest number of patent applications per year in the world in several technology fields.

1. Market Trend

 a. Mobile Phone

Samsung extended its lead in the overall mobile phone market as well, selling more than one in four phones worldwide in the third quarter of this year. While Apple’s market share in the worldwide mobile phone market increased slightly, the pricing of the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in both mature and emerging markets failed to entice consumers as hoped. The table shows a recent market trend of smartphone sales.

 b. Embedded OS

In the smartphone operating-system market, Android continued to dominate the industry with more than 80 percent of the market's share in the third quarter of 2013. And, while Apple's iOS and BlackBerry suffered a drop in their worldwide market shares, Microsoft’s Windows Phone showed significant growth, albeit from a low base.

 c. Digital / Smart TV

Samsung retained its leadership position in the global Smart TV market amid the competitive holiday season of 2013 with a 26.4 percent share as TV vendors rapidly deploy Smart TV capabilities to garner higher average selling prices (ASPs), according to the latest Strategy Analytics research, “Smart TV Market Share Report Q4 2013″.

Samsung’s nearest competitor, LG, registered a 14.4 percent market share of Smart TV shipments. Although Sony ships fewer Flat Panel TV (FPTV) units than LG, it has been aggressive in its efforts to add Smart TV capabilities to nearly all models it currently offers, which helped Sony capture another 14.3 percent of the Smart TV market.

Samsung and LG have done well in growing their overall FPTV market shares while also refreshing their line-ups with more high value-added products like Smart TVs that have slowed ASP decline at these two companies. Not coincidentally, both companies witnessed a surge in Smart TV market share in the same period.

2. Patent Applications Trend in Recent 5 Years

 a. Mobile Phone/Embedded OS Fields

 b. Digital TV Field (excluding display panel technology) 

3. Korean Patent Documents as Prior Art Pool

 

Accordingly, it is certainly necessary to search and review patent publications in Korean for prior art searches. Nonetheless, it is really difficult to fully understand Korean texts because Korean is a language far remote from English. Usually it has been our experience that we can often find a critical prior art written in Korean that was never considered during patent examination in EPO or USPTO.

Search is not simple. Rather it requires expertise in strategy and deep understanding of technology. We have been entrusted for prior art search by large companies who have multinational patent litigations. Our experienced experts can provide high value-added search strategy and results for analyzing and compiling of patent database information. We have a lot of search and analysis experiences in smart phones, digital TV, video data processing, etc.

Benefits on Prior Art Search to Korean Language Documents

Korea becomes one of the largest pools of patent publications in the world. In every year, KIPO receives over 350,000 domestic patent applications with specifications written in Korean. Furthermore, Korea already had the largest number of patent applications per year in the world in several technology fields. For example, Korea is the leading country in semiconductor chip area and LCD or OLED display panels. The table below shows the statistic of LCD panel market shares in 2012.

Accordingly, it is necessary to search and review patent materials in Korean for prior art searches. Nonetheless, it is really difficult to fully understand Korean texts because Korean is a language far remote from English. Usually it has been our experience that we can often find a critical prior art written in Korean that was never considered during patent examination in EPO or USPTO.

Search is not simple. Rather it requires expertise in strategy and deep understanding of technology. We have been entrusted for prior art search by large companies who have multinational patent litigations. Our experienced experts can provide high value-added search strategy and results for analyzing and compiling of patent database information.

While there are a lot of search and analysis experiences in smart phones, semiconductor, video data processing, auto parts, just as an example, we listed up technology areas in detail regarding Display technology.

1) LCD

i) TFT: TFT structure, metal wiring, LTPS polysilicon semiconductor, Oxide semiconductor, Organic semiconductor,
ii) Pixel layout (patterned pixel)
iii) Organic/inorganic insulating layer, C/F, BM, column spacer, Color filter on array, Black matrix on array
iv) Liquid crystal mode: TN, VA, SVA, IPS, PLS, OCB, PDLC
v) Timing controller, Data/Gate Driving IC, COG, ASG, Backlight dimming
vi) LED, optical film (LGP, prism, diffuser, microlens), polarizer
vii) 5 mask/4 mask/3 mask process, nanoimprint, inkjet, Roll print

2) OLED

i) TFT: TFT structure, metal wiring, LTPS polysilicon semiconductor, Oxide semiconductor, Organic semiconductor, buffer layer
ii) Emitting material: EL, Quantum Dot, HITL, HIL, HTL, EITL, EIL, ETL
iii) PDL(pixel defined layer), Spacer, anode/cathode, Top/bottom emission display
iv) Encapsulation, polarizer
v) Fine metal mask, nanoimprint, inkjet, Roll print
vi) Protection Window

3) Miscellaneous

i) Touch screen panel
ii) Flexible display
iii) Digital Information Display
iv) Rounded display
v) 3D display
vi) Liquid crystal lens
vii) Smart watch