일본 특허출원비공개제도의 도입과 시사점

The Japanese government enacted the Economic Security Promotion Act in May this year to actively respond to large-scale cyber attacks, international terrorism, and rising geopolitical tensions. The Act introduced a patent application non-disclosure system that does not disclose inventions related to security among patent applications for R&D and the results of R&D to secure specific important materials. The Japanese Patent Office is not in charge of the system, but the Cabinet Office (the Prime Minister) is in charge of the overall affairs as the department in charge. The head of the Korean Intellectual Property Office shall conduct the first examination three months before the date of filing the patent application, select the non-disclosure target invention to send to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister shall select the final non-disclosure target invention in consultation with the relevant institution. If an invention is selected as a non-disclosure target invention, the applicant cannot apply without obtaining permission from the Prime Minister, and it is impossible to file a foreign patent application. In Korea, the government (the head of the Korean Intellectual Property Office) prohibits private and foreign applications only for inventions necessary for national defense under the Patent Act, however in Japan, the Cabinet Office stipulates that the Prime Minister shall apply a permit system for the selection and implementation of the non-disclosure target invention, and strong penalties for violations. When such a Japanese system is implemented, it is expected to have a significant impact on securing raw materials such as materials, parts, and devices for Korean companies as it is applied not only to defense-related technologies but also to economic security in a broad sense. Therefore, Korea also needs a government policy that actively promotes the development of technologies related to the combination of security and economy, as a result of the research, it is necessary to actively consider the introduction of a non-disclosure system in patent applications for economic and security-related technologies other than defense-related technologies.