310. Korea is very pleased to share its national experiences as a co-sponsor of this agenda item. Korea attaches great importance to assisting MSMEs in strengthening competitiveness through the development of trademarks. In this regard, KIPO (the Korean Intellectual Property Office) has designed and implemented targeted programmes to help such MSMEs to develop and promote trademarks. First of all, given that MSMEs lack IP capacity in general, KIPO has been providing "IP Assisting Services to MSMEs through the Regional Intellectual Property Centers. As part of these services, MSMEs are provided with the necessary assistance from consultants and experts in the area of how to develop brands, designs, and patents. KIPO implemented such services in 231 cases in the year 2019, which is believed to have been of great value in terms of narrowing the gaps in IP capacity between large firms and MSMEs.
311. Secondly, as more and more MSMEs expand into global markets there is a growing need for a range of measures to protect the trademarks of MSMEs in overseas markets. Indeed, a number of MSMEs who are seeking to go global, export their products first without taking necessary measures to register their trademarks/brands with the authorities of the countries that they want to export to or invest in. Such cases happen frequently because those MSMEs lack the necessary knowledge about the legal system. As part of efforts to prevent IP rights, including trademarks, from being infringed by foreign brokers, KIPO operates a total of 15 IP Help Desks in eight countries. The main functions of the IP Desks are to help MSMEs to protect their trademarks under the legal system of the foreign countries which the MSMEs are operating in or exporting to. In cases in which the IP rights have been violated in those countries, they provide legal consulting services to the MSMEs concerned on how to resolve such IP-related disputes. In addition, IP Help Desks hold seminars/workshops to raise awareness of the importance of the protection of trademarks, as well as how to cope with possible infringements.
