April 19, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s top steelmaker  POSCO  established a new company that will be exclusively responsible for managing its intellectual property rights, according to the firm on July 5. 

POSCO has injected 5 billion won (US$4.35 million) to set up a wholly owned subsidiary Poscortech on June 9. The official launch was on June 14. 

“The number and types of patents have been increasing rapidly within the group,” a POSCO spokesperson told The Investor. “We established the firm to manage all the patent operations more effectively.”

Poscortech will be in charge of handling all the patent matters of the company’s technologies. It is also planning to construct and provide a group-wide infrastructure dedicated to patents. 

POSCO possesses many patents, including Finex -- steelmaking technology that allows using cheaper raw materials resulting significant cost reduction -- strip casting technology and lithium carbonate production, among others. 

As the steel giant has been actively seeking to export its key technologies in the overseas market, the new company will be in charge of filing, protecting, distributing and marketing POSCO’s patent assets. 

Former POSCO LED CEO Hwang Seok-joo will head the new company. Since joining POSCO in 1986, Hwang held a variety of sales, IT, management and strategy positions. 

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)