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PATENT
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| Korean Supreme Court Sets Rules for "International Panels" |
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Under the Amendment to the Court Organization Act, which became effective June 13, 2018, certain courts handling IP cases have been given authority to establish "International Panels," or panels of judges reviewing cases in languages other
than in Korean, as a way of making Korea a more conducive venue for foreign litigants to bring IP litigation. To provide further details for implementing the Amendment, the Supreme Court promulgated its "Rules on the Establishment and
Operation of International Panels," which are now in effect.
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| Supreme Court Makes It More Difficult to Protect Inventiveness of "Numerical Limitation" Inventions |
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A recent Supreme Court case in Korea has reaffirmed the difficulty of patenting "numerical limitation" inventions in Korea, where the numerical limitation is the only distinguishing feature compared to the prior art.
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| The MFDS Reviews the First Three Years of the Patent-Approval Linkage System in Korea |
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It has now been over 3 years since Korea implemented its pharmaceutical patent-regulatory approval linkage system (similar to the Hatch-Waxman system in the U.S.) in March 2015, pursuant to the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. The Ministry of
Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), the agency in charge of administering the system, recently decided to begin reviewing the current Korean linkage system to identify problems and to set up plans to improve the reliability and efficiency of the
system.
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| KIPO Begins Policing "Idea Theft" Unfair Competition |
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The latest amendment to the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act took effect on July 18, 2018, and introduces a new provision prohibiting unfair competition in connection with "idea theft," or unfair use of the ideas
of another that were acquired as part of a business negotiation or transaction. The purpose of the amendment is to provide additional protection for creative business ideas that may not be easy to protect as typical intellectual property such
as patents, copyrights, or trademarks.
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| KIPO's Power of Attorney Requirements Now Relaxed for Foreign Companies |
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The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) recently announced that separate declarations will no longer be required for Power of Attorney (POA) forms for foreign companies, regardless of the signer's title. The change became effective on
August 10, 2018.
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| KIPO Ceases Official Fee Reductions for EPO ISRs |
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The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has discontinued offering a reduction in official prosecution fees for submission of an International Search Report (ISR) from the European Patent Office (EPO). The change applies to PCT national
phase applications in which the request for examination is filed on or after October 1, 2018.
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TRADEMARK, DESIGN & UNFAIR COMPETITION
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| Supreme Court Rules that the "AMERICAN UNIVERSITY" Mark Is Inherently Distinctive Based on Consumer Awareness Evidence |
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The Supreme Court recently ruled en banc that the mark "AMERICAN UNIVERSITY" is sufficiently distinctive among Korean consumers to be registered in connection with university education services, instruction services, and other
designated services. The Supreme Court's reasoning is notable because it appears to hold that consumer awareness evidence can be used to prove the inherent distinctiveness of a mark in Korea, not just secondary meaning.
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Significant Increase in Non-Use Cancellation Actions in Korea
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According to data recently published by the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the number of non-use cancellation actions filed in Korea has significantly increased in recent years, resulting in nearly double the number of registrations
cancelled in 2017 compared to previous years.
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Free Riding on Gargle Dispensers: a New "Catch-All" Decision
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The Seoul District Court recently rendered an interesting decision based on the "catch-all" provision of the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act that illustrates the breadth of this provision and how it may be
applied to a wide variety of unfair commercial behaviors.
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Now Easier for Korean Design Applications to Claim Priority to Chinese Applications, and Vice Versa
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Prior to September 2017, a Korean design application claiming priority to an earlier foreign application needed to submit a priority document certified by the government of the foreign country. However, when the Design Protection Act (DPA)
was amended as of September 22, 2017, one of the changes was to ease the requirements for proving priority claims for design applications. This was somewhat clarified in a subsequent Enforcement Regulations of the DPA, which indicated that
any alternative option for proving priority claims would apply only to countries with a system in place to electronically exchange priority documents with KIPO.
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Korea Customs Service's Report on Intellectual Property Rights Seizures in 2017
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The Korea Customs Service recently published its annual report of counterfeit goods seized at the South Korean border in 2017.
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