The Republic of Korea (South Korea) has been pushing for “independence” from Japan’s economic and technological influence, partly as a nationalist response to Japan’s stiff response to calls for repentance over alleged war crimes leading up to the end of World War II and partly in retaliation for trade tensions under [former] Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
Meanwhile, some assert that Korean IP is not strong in quality and Japanese entities are attacking those patents to beat back the Korean attempt at “independence” of Japanese supplies.
The JoongAng Ilbo Korean news outlet noted in a September 7 article that while Korean companies are being urged to produce the parts they need for manufacture domestically, many companies in semiconductor and other key IT sectors are fearful that Japanese and other major semiconductor companies will crush this effort by challenging the validity of patents held by Korean corporations. A number of Oppositions to patents in these fields have been filed by Japanese parties against Korean patents this year.[1]
Korean manufacturers still depend heavily on Japanese supply for semiconductors materials to make the semiconductors for which they are famous.[1] While the trade and IP struggle between the United States and People’s Republic of China continues to make headlines, the Korea-Japan feud smolders in the background. Hopefully, innovators for peace and justice will step in.
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Taro Yaguchi
Sources
[1] JoongAng Ilbo Co., Ltd. “「韓国の素材・部品・装備国産化」の裏で笑う日本…特許訴訟で反撃始まった [Japan laughs at the reality of the ‘Korean domestic production of materials, parts, and equipment—pushback with patent lawsuits has begun].” https://japanese.joins.com/JArticle/269979. September 7, 2020. Accessed September 18, 2020.
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