Leading Korean Life Sciences Company KAEL-GemVax Appoints CPA Global to Handle its Patent Renewals

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, March 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

KAEL-GemVax, a leading Korean life sciences company, has appointed CPA Global, the world's top intellectual property (IP) management specialist, to manage renewals of patents in its expanding IP portfolio.

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With a core part of its business focused on medical science and pharmaceutical research and development - including anti-carcinogenic vaccines - KAEL-GemVax has a growing portfolio of valuable patents, which it needs to protect and manage, both at home and abroad.

The company realized that, in continuing to expand internationally and seeking to differentiate itself in the life sciences industry, it needed a global service provider to help strengthen the protection of its key IP assets, manage its IP portfolio more cost efficiently, and mitigate risk around patent renewals.  

By partnering with CPA Global, KAEL-GemVax can better understand the commercial viability and legal strength of its current IP assets as well as the broader IP landscape to which those assets relate, enabling the company to make more informed decisions in developing a comprehensive IP strategy domestically and internationally.

Under the agreement, CPA Global will be responsible for renewals of KAEL-GemVax's existing patents as well as those currently under application, both in South Korea and overseas. KAEL-GemVax will also be able to use other CPA Global services, such as patent search and analytics, to help assess the strength and effectiveness of its IP portfolio in line with market developments and competitor activity.

KAEL-GemVax is a high-performance life science technologies company, primarily focusing on the development of biological drugs. One of its main product areas is from Norwegian cancer vaccine company GemVax A/S, which it acquired in 2008.

Ms Lee Mi-hyun, Patent Lawyer and IP Team Leader at KAEL-GemVax, commented: "Our IP is vitally important to the company's future growth and development, so we needed a service provider who could ensure protection of our valuable intellectual assets around the world, while also delivering significant cost efficiencies in the management of our expanding IP portfolio. We selected CPA Global because of their extensive experience and expertise in managing patent renewals worldwide, their highly efficient work processes, their in-depth industry knowledge, and their ability to advise on a broad range of IP management issues.

"Working with CPA Global will help us develop a more comprehensive and competitive IP strategy, enabling us to strengthen our market leadership position, particularly in the medical science and pharmaceutical area. In addition to managing our renewals process, they will be able to assist us in identifying opportunities to optimize the value of our IP assets, both in Korea and internationally, through patent monetization."

Steve Kim, CPA Global's Director for Korea, said: "We are delighted to be working with KAEL-GemVax to help manage their valuable IP assets and to support the development and delivery of their global IP strategy. KAEL-GemVax is a company with a track record of thinking 'outside of the box'. This can be seen from its diversification into new product areas, and also by its innovative approach to IP management and portfolio optimization. By appointing CPA Global to handle its renewals, the company is able to free up their in-house IP team to focus on more strategic work, such as developing additional revenue streams from its prized IP assets."

About KAEL-GemVax

KAEL-GemVax is an international leader in the life sciences sector, especially in peptide therapeutics. The company - headquartered in Gyeonggi province in South Korea, where it has a dedicated research and development center - has high-performance life science technologies such as cancer vaccine drugs and other novel biological therapeutics. It was founded in 2008, when South Korean manufacturing company KAEL Co. Ltd changed its name to GemVax & KAEL (KOSDAQ: 082270) and established KAEL-GemVax as a subsidiary. KAEL-GemVax subsequently acquired Norwegian cancer vaccine company GemVax A/S.

About CPA Global

CPA Global is the world's leading intellectual property (IP) management and IP software specialist, and an international provider of outsourced legal services. With offices across Europe, the United States and Asia Pacific, CPA Global supports many of the world's best known corporations and law firms with a range of IP and broader legal services, helping them to manage risk, cost and capacity, and realize greater value for their businesses and IP assets.

CPA Global helps corporates and law firms in managing valuable IP Rights, such as patents, designs and trademarks, ensuring that IP portfolios are protected, maintained and regularly reviewed in order to maximize value. Working closely with its clients, CPA Global ensures they have the best information on which to base IP decisions, and the best support in terms of helping implement those decisions. Services include patent portfolio optimization; patent research and analytics; patent and trademark renewals; IP management software; as well as other IP support services such as docketing, trademark watching and domains management. CPA Global is also a leading player in the outsourced legal services sector, providing high quality and cost-efficient legal support services such as transaction support, contract management, anti-bribery and compliance, and legal research through delivery centers in the US and India.

Founded in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1969, CPA Global today employs more than 1,700 people, serving clients' needs in 200 jurisdictions through its own offices and an extensive agent network. CPA Global's diverse client list ranges from major global corporations, headquartered in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, to small and medium-sized enterprises and innovation start-ups; and from top international law firms to national and regional law and IP firms. For further information, please visit: http://www.cpaglobal.com.

Media Contacts:

United States

Julie Mandell +1-571-227-7025, [email protected]
Christina Berrios +1-646-408-4718, [email protected]

United Kingdom

Steve Clark +44(0)20-7549-5504, [email protected]

Victoria Knowles +44(0)20-7549-4585, [email protected]

SOURCE CPA Global