June 18, 2025
KIPO Supports Establishment Timor-Leste's IP Office
The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has started taking concrete steps to support the launch of the Timor-Leste Intellectual Property Office, with the running of the four-day training for the delegation from Timor-Leste's Ministry of Commerce and Industry which started June 17 2025.
Timor-Leste has received de factor approval for full ASEAN membership at the ASEAN Summit in November 2022, and is expected to be formally admitted as the 11th member from the 47th ASEAN Summit in October 2025. Since then, the country has sought assistance from Korea and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to build a modern IP system in their nation, and in response, KIPO and WIPO have agreed to share Korea's experience and expertise through the WIPO Funds-in-Trust (FIT) Korea. As this will mark the first instance of supporting the establishment of a foreign IP office using the FIT Korea, Korea has prepared its support plan with meticulous care.
The training, taking placed at KIPO's International Intellectual Property Training Institute (IIPTI) in Daejeon, is designed to help the participants to have comprehensive views on what it takes to establish and operate a national IP office. Subjects like setting strategic visions, building administrative infrastructure such as organizational structure, allocation of human resources and legal frameworks, and having the processes for application filing, examination and registration of IP rights will be addressed by experienced officials at KIPO. Follow-up consulting will cover more detailed implementation steps including roadmap development and examiner training.
As ASEAN is Korea's third-largest trading partner (as of 2024, Korea International Trade Association), KIPO will continue to enrich its partnership with ASEAN member states in the field of intellectual property.