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IP Newsletter | Winter 2018/19
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TRADEMARK, DESIGN, COPYRIGHT & UNFAIR COMPETITION
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Expanded Authority of Special Judicial Police to Conduct Criminal Investigations and Raids
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Within the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the Special Judicial Police (SJP) has the authority to conduct criminal investigations and raids in connection with certain violations of IP rights. Under the current law, the SJP (which was founded in 2012) is only authorized to conduct such investigations and raids in connection with trademark infringement and consumer confusion under the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act ("UCPA").
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The law designating the scope of duties and rights of the SJP was recently amended to extend the SJP's authority to cover patent and design infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and violation of the "dead copy" provision of the UCPA (which prohibits competitors of a newly-released product from selling goods substantially identical in appearance to the product for a limited period of time). The amendments will go into effect beginning March 19, 2019.
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Since 2012, there have been at least 300 individuals every year who have been criminally charged for trademark infringement and/or violation of unfair competition law, and numerous infringing goods have been seized as a result of the SJP's investigations (please see KIPO's published statistics in the summary chart below).
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| | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Through August 2018 |
|---|
Criminal
Cases
(individuals) |
139 |
302 |
376 |
430 |
378 |
351 |
362 |
197 |
| Seized goods |
28,589 |
131,599 |
822,370 |
1,114,192 |
1,197,662 |
584,094 |
691,630 |
382,557 |
Equivalent
value of
corresponding
genuine
goods (in USD) |
8,550,000 |
24,670,000 |
56,720,000 |
88,080,000 |
97,650,000 |
74,490,000 |
41,650,000 |
27,210,000 |
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Due to increasing infringement of other intellectual property rights in Korea and the effectiveness of the SJP's criminal raids and seizures, the relevant law has been amended to allow the SJP to address intellectual property rights beyond trademarks, which we believe will enhance enforcement of intellectual property rights in South Korea as a whole.
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Back
to Main Page
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If you have any questions regarding this article, please contact:
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For more information, please visit our website: www.ip.kimchang.com
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