Korea's Patent Court adopts ethics code

According to the Korean newspaper the JoonAng Daily, the Patent Court has published its first "ethics code" in an attempt to establish its credentials as a corruption-free agency. The Court posted the six tenets on its official website last Wednesday, after the court’s 17 judges and 50 employees held meetings on the subject last December.

The Patent Court’s statement was significant for the detail it went into on the measures that would be taken to heighten the agency’s ethical standards. First the officials pledged that they would not financially exploit court property for personal gain. Then they declared that their family members shared some responsibility in maintaining the organization’s moral integrity, adding that “spouses and other family members should not receive money, gifts or real estate”. They also agreed not to give special favours to people who shared regional, academic or blood relations in carrying out their duties.