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2024 Issue 1

PATENT

Recent Revisions to Korean Invention Promotion Act While many lawsuits have been filed seeking compensation for employee inventions recently, the National Assembly of Korea passed a bill to revise the Invention Promotion Act. Read more Amendments to Protect IP Rights Holders Under the Trade Secret Protection Act and Patent Act The passed amendments increase punitive damages available for willful infringement of patents, trade secrets and certain unfair competition acts up to five times the actual damages, and also strengthen criminal sanctions for trade secret infringement. Read more First Case Awarding Punitive Damages for Willful Infringement A district court awarded punitive damages for the first time since an amendment to Korean Patent Act became effective, after finding the defendant willfully infringed the patentee's patent. Read more Cost Savings Resulting From Use of an In-Service Invention in Manufacturing Process Can Be Considered as Employer's Profit in Calculating Compensation to Inventor-Employee The IP High Court rendered an interesting decision relating to whether the manufacturing cost reduction earned by an employer from working in-service inventions on its production facilities can be deemed as the employer's profits out of the in-service inventions. Read more Korean Patent Applications in the First Half of 2023 Increased the Most in Three Fields Classified as National Core Technologies Three technology fields showed the most rapid growth, and the growth rate of filings in the three fields combined was more than three times the average growth rate for all patent applications. Read more KIPO's 2022 IP Report on Secondary Batteries: Interesting Statistics on Battery Patents in Korea, Japan, and China The report analyzed 352,965 patent applications filed in the big 5 patent offices (KIPO, USPTO, JPO, EPO and CNIPA) from 2000 to 2021. Read more KIPO Continues to Overhaul Expedited Examination System Expedited examination has shortened the time for receiving office actions in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and increased the grant rate of applications that qualified for expedited examination. Read more Drug Data Protection System to Enter into Force in Korea in 2025 An amendment to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law abolishes the current drug re-examination system and establishes a new system expressly protecting drug data for marketing authorization. Read more Recent Amendments Strengthen Export Controls for Strategic Items to Russia and Belarus The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy issued an administrative announcement proposing to facilitate and strengthen the international community's efforts on export controls to Russia and Belarus, as well as to improve the system for the management of strategic items. Read more Stronger Crackdowns by Korea Customs Service on Overseas Leakage of Advanced Technology and Illegal Exports of Strategic Items The Korea Customs Service announced its plan to establish an Economic Security Countermeasure Task Force, which combines border control and judicial police functions in order to strongly respond to trade crimes. Read more

TRADEMARK, DESIGN & UNFAIR COMPETITION

KIPO's Authority Against Unfair Competitive Acts Expands The Korea Intellectual Property Office now has the authority to impose corrective orders on parties that have committed unfair competitive acts. Read more KIPO SJP's Investigative Authority to be Further Expanded An amendment to further broaden Special Judicial Police's authority was promulgated and took effect on January 16, 2024. Read more Is Use of a Mark as a Smartphone App Icon Use With Respect to the Services Provided by the App or the App? The IP High Court Suggests That It Depends on the Facts The court had the chance to consider this issue for the first time in an appeal of a trademark scope confirmation trial. Read more

EDITORS Inchan Andrew KWON, John J. KIM, Angela KIM & Raymis H. KIM

NEWS

Ranked "Band 1" in All Nine Areas, 39 "Leading Individuals" Recognized – Chambers Global 2024 Kim & Chang Ranked Among Top Trademark Firms in WTR 1000 2024 "ESG Firm of the Year" and "IP Firm of the Year" – The Asia Legal Awards 2024

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Jeongdong Building, 17F, 21-15 Jeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 04518, Korea T +82 2 2122 3900 | F +82 2 2122 3800/741 0328 | www.ip.kimchang.com | ip-group@kimchang.com This legal update is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be considered a legal opinion of KIM & CHANG nor relied upon in lieu of specific advice. Recipients of this publication, whether clients or otherwise, should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in this publication without seeking appropriate legal or other professional advice. For more newsletters and legal updates of KIM & CHANG, please visit our website - www.kimchang.com or www.ip.kimchang.com [UNSUBSCRIBE] If you do not wish to receive our e-mail service, please click here. © 2024 Kim & Chang