5.38. The representative of Korea said that it was unnecessary to revise the TRIPS Agreement through the review of Article 27.3(b), and that the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD did not conflict with each other. His delegation continued to oppose the proposal on a mandatory disclosure requirement. In Korea's experience, databases of genetic resources and traditional knowledge would greatly assist in preventing the granting of erroneous patents. The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) had spent six months in studying the use of generic resources in Korean patent applications in 2012. More than 100,000 patent applications had been filed with KIPO. KIPO had limited the scope of its study by using the international patent classification (IPC) in the field of biotechnology. The study could not be extended to include other international patent classifications as it would need an overwhelming amount of resources. Even with the limited scope of the study, there were still too many applications. KIPO had further limited the scope of the study to the applications received in the past two years. The study found that generic resource related patents needed systematic databases, and that most of the generic resources in the patent applications had been disclosed in different ways. KIPO had searched more than 5,000 genetic resources one by one in order to clarify which specific genetic resource had been used. The study found that the origin of the genetic resources was unclear as it could be traditional markets, certain areas near the applicant, or regular companies. In the view of Korea, a mandatory disclosure requirement would place significant burdens on IP offices.
