The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) recently made a sweeping change in the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB) by reorganizing 11 trial panels to 36 trial panels (effective July 14, 2020) with the aim of enhancing fairness, independence, and integrity of patent trials.

Before the reorganization, IPTAB consisted of 11 trial panels assigned according to IP rights and technical fields with a total of 11 presiding trial judges and 96 trial judges. Under this structure, each of the 11 trial panels was headed by a presiding trial judge with about 9 trial judges assigned to each trial panel.

When the IPTAB was established in 1998, there were 13 presiding trial judges and 26 trial judges, representing a ratio of 1:2.  But in 2019, the ratio rose to 1:8.7 with the number of presiding trial judges decreasing to 11 while the number of trial judges increasing to 96. The disparity in the ratio indicated the heavy caseload of the presiding trial judges. Indeed, the average number of cases for a presiding trial judge in 2019 reached 1,169 according to IPTAB statistics.

Under these circumstances, it has become more difficult for the trial panels to give proper consideration to all the cases.  In order to enhance the effectiveness of the system without increasing the total number of judges, the IPTAB has relaxed the requirements to allow for more trial judges to become presiding trial judges.

The increased number of trial panels and presiding trial judges will not only allow each of the IPTAB panels to devote more time on individual cases, but also allow for increased number of hearings so that parties can have a better opportunity to explain their case.