By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Samsung Electronics chief patent officer (CPO) Kim Gwang-ho and Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) Jun Sang-woo were credited as two of the world's most influential people in the IP sector.
The two Koreans were named by the Managing Intellectual Property magazine in its August issue along with other well-known business and political figures such as Nicolas Sarkozy, the new French president, Wu Yi, vice premier of China, and Eric Nooteboom, head of the IP unit at the European Commission.
The inclusion of Kim and Jun reflects Samsung's and South Korea's growing clout as major powers in the global intellectual property society, the magazine said.
``Kim, the Samsung vice president, has overseen the way that Samsung manages its patent portfolio and has provided renewed momentum to its ambition to become one of the world's top three patent filers by 2007,'' it said.
The Korean electronics maker was IBM's closest rival in terms of patents registered in the United States, with 2,453 compared to IBM's 3,651. It has risen from 11th in the rankings in 2002 to 2nd last year and is aiming to overtake IBM in the next two to three years.
In addition to his work for Samsung, Kim serves as a member of the committee that advises the commissioner of the KIPO and was previously an adviser on IP to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.