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| PATENT |
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KIPO’s Growing Popularity as an ISA for U.S.-Originating PCT Applications
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| Under the PCT system, each application must undergo an international patentability search by a designated international search agency (“ISA”). As of the beginning of 2013, there were 15 national (or regional) patent offices or organizations operating as ISAs around the world, at least one of which must be made available for selection through the receiving office where the PCT application is filed. With the continuing growth in the number of international patent filings, and companies’ growing need to pursue IP protection in multiple countries, the choice of ISA to perform the search on a given application is becoming increasingly important. Read more
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Additional Details Announced Regarding Revised Invention Promotion Act
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| The Invention Promotion Act was recently amended to increase employee rights and encourage employers to pay fair compensation to its employees for employee inventions ("Revised IPA"). The Revised IPA went into effect on January 31, 2014. Read more
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The Patent Prosecution Highway in Korea and Its Strategic Use in Prosecution
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| In January this year, Korea launched two programs to expedite patent prosecution: (i) the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) and (ii) the IP5 PPH. The purpose of both programs is to simplify the existing system, which consists of multiple bilateral agreements, by replacing it with a single set of qualifying requirements and permitting an applicant to use one unitary system across multiple jurisdictions. Read more
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Restrictive Covenants from Exclusive Patent License Agreements Must Be Recorded with KIPO
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| Exclusive patent licenses may sometimes come with certain restrictive covenants (e.g., certain sales territory, exclusive period, place of manufacturing, or products). However, these restrictive covenants must be recorded with the Korean Intellectual Property Office in order to be enforceable through patent laws. Read more
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| TRADEMARK & DOMAIN NAME |
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Proposed Amendments to the Korean Trademark Act
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| The Korean Intellectual Property Office ("KIPO") has recently proposed some significant changes to the Korean Trademark Act. If passed by the National Assembly, KIPO hopes to have the proposed amendment go into effect as of July 1, 2015. Read more
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Changes to the Trademark Examination Guideline
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| The Korean Intellectual Property Office (“KIPO”) has recently announced changes to the Trademark Examination Guideline (“Guideline”). These changes went into effect on January 1, 2014. The Guideline is used by KIPO examiners when reviewing trademark applications, and some of the key changes are discussed below. Read more
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trademark -  - 트레이드마크
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| Reversing a long-held position, the Supreme Court of Korea en banc recently ruled that the use of only the English portion (or equally, only the Korean transliteration portion) of a registered English/Korean transliteration combination mark constituted use of the mark as registered. Read more
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A Defeat for Cybersquatters
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| The Supreme Court of Korea confirmed that the lack of fame of a trademark in Korea could no longer be used as an excuse by cyber squatters in cases involving top level domain names, including .com, and .org. Korean cyber squatters often argued in civil actions filed under the Korean Internet Address Resource Act, that the foreign owner of a famous trademark abroad did not own legitimate rights to demand the transfer or de-registration of a domain name, if the mark was not also famous in Korea. Read more
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New Hurdle for Trademark Infringers
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| In a surprising decision, the Supreme Court, upholding the Daegu High Court's ruling, recognized for the first time the existence of a presumption of negligence on the part of the infringer in cases of trademark infringement, making it easier for plaintiffs to recover damages for infringement. Read more
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