ANYFIVE and other Korean and overseas companies like OneNess, Moody’s Analytics, and Parin Tech, are blowing in a breath of fresh air into the annual fee management service and IP service markets that certain foreign companies have dominated for years.
They plan to organically combine ‘Thinkcat’, the AI-based integrated IP service platform that was newly showcased in the middle of this year, with existing integrated IP management solutions and big data to innovatively improve the structure of annual fee management expenditure.
This is due to the increasing reliance on foreign companies for annual fee management services not only raising the annual fee management costs for Korean companies, but also making the terms of the service contract more unfavorable and reducing the efficiency of annual patent fee management tasks. The phenomenon of ‘the cart being put before the horse ’ frequently occurs between companies applying for patents and annual fee management service companies.
With other Korean and overseas partners,the company also plans to expandthe overseas patent research and analysis market into various service competition systems by country, so that clients can easily receive the best service through the integrated IP service platform, ‘Thinkcat’.
ANYFIVE introduced ‘Thinkcat’ and ‘Thinkcat Annual Fee’, services that they have been preparing for a long time to innovate the annual fee management service and overseas patent research and analysis service, at the conference held at the Hyatt Hotel by the Korea Intellectual Property Association (KINPA) on the 20th.
The company announced that they have established a collaboration system with Korean and overseas IP service companies like OneNess, TECHRAN, Moody’s Analytics, Parin Tech Innovation, Dako, and Daewoo Investment & Consultancy. In particular, OneNess, the Korean annual fee management company, decided to compete with foreign companies by efficiently and systematically managing their annual fee management service based on ANYFIVE’s integrated IP service, ‘Thinkcat’.
ANYFIVE’s ‘Thinkcat’ focuses on significantly reducing annual fee management costs and increasing work efficiency at its core. ANYFIVE is already running annual fee management operations, supplying IP management solutions to numerous clients in Korea.
In addition, they have secured an annual fee payment service network in overseas markets like in the US, Europe, and Asia and have recently gotten an integrated system to manage and verify it. They will begin marketing in earnest in November, with the Korean annual fee management company, OneNess.
They plan to not only secure management efficiency and transparency by having companieslink annual fee management services on existing IP management solutions mounted on the ‘Think cat’ platform, but to also have them receive a real-time ‘annual fee registration task status’ service in overseas markets in the future.
Kijong Kim, the CEO of ANYFIVE, said that, “Though many companies are recently undertaking various innovative activities to cut costs and increase efficiency, 90% of the Korean annual fee management market is currently dominated by foreign companies,” and went on to point out that, “There is a limit to what public institutions, universities, and companies can do to reduce unnecessary annual fees and raise work efficiency.”
Kijong Kim said that, “We have set goals to cut annual fee management service costs by 50% over the long-term, and more than double management efficiency,” and added that, “By combining ICT and big data technology andexisting patent big data that was verified by experts, we will reduce the burden of unnecessary patent cleansing work, and focus on improving effiency.”
Sooyoung Ham, the CEO of OneNess, said that, “’Thinkcat’ minimizes the loss of IP and provides opportunities to create and increase IP value,” and expressed his expectations, saying, “More efficient patent maintenance and management will be possible through the organic connection of our company’s annual fee management service and ‘Thinkcat’.”
The company decided to provide overseas patent research and analysis services with overseas IP service companies in different countries, like the USA, Europe, and Vietnam. Parin Tech(파린테크), is composed of research and analysis experts of each base of overseas markets, such as in the US or Europe.They plan to establish service processes and methods with local overseas companies like Daewoo Investment & Consultancy and Dako, and connecting companies with demand with companies with supply through Thinkcat.
<Interview>Kijong Kim, ANYFIVE CEO
“With the integrated intellectual property (IP) service platform, ‘Thinkcat’, on our back, we will stand as the leader of the global IP service market.”
This is what Kijong Kim, the CEO of ANYFIVE, revealed, as he said, “Working with our Korean and overseas partners, we will innovate the foreign capital company centered global IP market ecosystem.”This is his goal to create a structure where the market and services can naturally develop by applying IP services and ICT and connecting this to platforms.
Thinkcat is short for ‘Think catch’ and is a platform that connects people with information or knowledge. It places a focus, not only on the expansion and sharing of the ecosystem, but also in continuous value creation. He emphasized that it is now difficult for the capabilities of individuals or certain companies to actively lead the market and clients, and that experts, big data, and ICT needed to work together.
CEO Kijong Kim pointed out that, “Though the annual fee management market is already turning into a service market with a clear structure and diversity, but existing overseas companies have been focused on continuing short-term businesses that only highlight accountability issues like patent loss to clients for decades.” It was an explanation of the Korean annual fee management business structure, which continues to go through several steps and agencies which only creates problems like high-cost and low-quality, and fails to pick out a new direction for improvement.
In particular, he said that, “If only annual fee management could simplify the process and make the role of verification clear, it could reduce costs and improve management efficiency more than what it is now,” and expressed that it was a shame that, “Clients are unable to solve their issues and are being unilaterally drawn to foreign companies, due to their ambiguous anxiety.”
He said that, “We have analyzed the state of annual fee management and costs of public institutions, universities, and companies for around 2 years, and have been meticulously preparing a Korean and overseas collaboration network,” and ensured that,”Through the ‘Thinkcat’-based annual fee management service, we can expect quality more than 2 times better, and a cost reducing effect.”
ANYFIVE is also planning to collect patents from clients that are subject to abandonment or technology transfer, on ‘Thinkcat’ for service. This is due to the fact that their patents can be connected to Korean and overseas markets and can gain new life through the establishment of a patent portfolio.
Reporter SoominAhn smahn@etnews.com