The Seoul Central District Court ruled earlier this year that Namyang Dairy Products Co. (“Namyang”) was in violation of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act of Korea by abusing its market dominance and “unfairly taking advantage” of retailers. For more articles on Koran Antitrust Law please see: Korean Antitrust Law. Namyang, a major Korean dairy company, was accused by retailers of, among other things, forcing retailers to purchase expired or soon-to-expire products and purchase unpopular products. The Seoul Central District Court in 2014GaHab592238 ruled the company
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Statutory Severance Obligations in Korea after Acquisition of Company in Korea
Korean employers have attempted, in many cases unsuccessfully, through mergers, to reduce the statutory severance obligations of a company through a company acquiring another company with a workforce with large outstanding severance obligations. The acquired company, in most cases, is strapped with debt and an inefficient workforce. Prior to a merger, please check the statutory severance obligations and other liabilities even if the merger is a mere “asset” merger, since Korea is proactive on obligations it feels are owed to employees. For an article on the calculation
Continue readingEnglish-speaking Korean lawyers and International Lawyers at International Law Firm in Korea discussing issues of Korean Law
IPG Legal is a leading client-focused international law firm with offices in Korea that is, often, selected over the ubiquitous Korean Law Firms when success is essential and success depends on nuanced street-smart advice, proactive and unconflicted representation. Our attorneys are, intentionally. different from the crowd. From our retired judge partners to our junior associates, we are all trained with an intense focus on client success, lawyer proactivity, and to understand the nexus between your commercial and legal needs. Our attorneys shall never push to you useless memos,
Continue readingKorean Distributor Sales Territory or Customer Restrictions in Korea: Korean Distributor law Agreements in Korea
Korea’s Distribution Law is governed, primarily, by the Commercial Code of Korea, Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Law of Korea (“FTL”), and the, newly enacted, Fairness in Distributor Transactions Act of Korea. These laws comprise a substantial body of law that is consistently evolving. The main regulatory body enforcing the FTL of Korea is the Fair Trade Commission of Korea (“FTC”). The Fair Trade Laws of Korea, in most cases, creates the most significant risk for suppliers and manufacturers doing business with distributors in Korea. A nuanced
Continue readingFiscal Transparency in International Business: International Business Structures
The September 2015 edition of International Bar Associations “Business Law International” has an interesting article entitled: “Fiscal Transparency – International Business Structures and Issues” The article is useful for, also, those doing business in Korea. The articles does not, specifically, address in any detail issues in Korea, the article does a great job in explaining issues relevant to those forming partnerships/joint ventures with UK, U.S. and developed European economies. The article notes, in part, that: “The continued globalization of business generally and the increased burdens imposed by
Continue readingRegulating the Korean Government Way: Consumer vs. Small Retailers
The Korean government, increasingly, is looking for ways to project small enterprises, often, with disregard for consumers. A recent regulation on book sales is a key example. A new regulation allows booksellers to, only discount from the cover price by up to15% with 5% of the discount via a bookstore membership scheme. The new regulation does not distinquish between recently released books and older books. The law has led to some stores to discount books by as much as 90% and for customers to drastically increase
Continue readingWeekly Korean Legal News From International Law Firm – IPG Legal for the Week of July 28, 2014
Weekly Korean Legal News From International Law Firm – IPG Legal for the Week of July 28, 2014Korean Legal News Reported by the Media on the Week of July 28, 2014 IMC may blacklist Korean builders over collusion Prosecutors continue probe into ferry owner’s driver Foreign workers upset by severance pay formula Restructuring urgent for big Korean companies Relocation of USFK Headquarters to Go Ahead Most Recent Posts from the Korean Law Blog This slot is reserved for the new article Korean Franchise Law Basics for Franchisors
Continue readingKorea Companies Defendants in Anti-Dumping Lawsuits Second to Only China: Check the Veracity of Data Produced by Korean Companies
According to statistics from the World Bank, Korea is second to only China in the number of anti-dumping lawsuits filed against Korean companies (Chinese companies accounted for 28.7%; Korea 10.7%; U.S. 3.5%; and Japan 3%). It is advisable for clients engaged in anti-dumping cases to confirm the veracity of the data presented to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC have few resources to confirm the data. We were retained, last year, for an anti-dumping case against a Korean conglomerate. We have seen a drastic increase
Continue readingKorea’s Samsung One of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies: Booz & Co.
Booz & Co. yearly ranking of the 10 most innovative companies places Apple in the top spot with Samsung closely behind. What do you think? What do you think about Samsung’s spending on R & D compared to Apple? Toyota is the only company on the list that outspends Samsung on R & D and is the 6th largest company in terms of R & D spending. Courtesy of Flick, Dennis Goedegebuure. Interesting that Amazon makes the list. What is so innovative about Amazon? They seem to
Continue readingFinding a Korean Distributor: Top 10 Things to Know Before you Jump into Bed with an Agent in Korea
Too often we deal with clients looking to collect unpaid invoices from distributors/customers in Korea and resolve IP and other disputes between these distributors/customers because of clients rushing into relationships without vetting out the anticipated distributor or having a very poorly drafted distribution agreement. Many distributors in Korea are fantastic, while, others are nothing more than order processors -they, simply can’t or don’t want to sell. Additionally, in these tough economic times, too many companies, in Korea, are struggling to stay afloat. If your distributor doesn’t know
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