Korea, in many cases, is a better choice for the manufacturing of chemical, petroleum, construction equipment, complex crafted metals, specialty steel, automotive parts, semi-conductor, medical and pharmaceutical equipment and goods than China and most nations in Asia, because of Korea’s skilled work force, government incentives, protection of IP and increasingly transparent business practices. In many cases, manufacturing in Korea will not, in the end, be more costly than manufacturing in China, because of the increased efficiency of Korean workers and
Continue readingCategory: Korean IP Law
Korean Patent Act Development of 2022
Major revisions to the South Korean Patent Act (KPA) came into effect on April 20, 2022. The period for filing an appeal against a rejection decision in Korea will be extended from 30 days to three months. Under the amended Korean Patent Act (KPA), applicants can save costs by avoiding time extensions that earlier had a narrow time period of 30 days. The time period was extended to three months from the date of receipt of a Notice of Final
Continue readingKorean Trademark Act Amendments for 2022
Recent Amendments to the Korean Trademark Act were passed by the the National Assembly of Korea. On February 3, 2022, the National Assembly published the Korean Trademark Act revisions. One major revision was the expansion of the meaning of “use of a trademark.” The revision should make the application process easier for applicants and expand the rights of those granted a trademark. IPG Legal welcomes these changes. Another article that may be of interest to the reader includes: Korean Intellectual
Continue readingProtecting your Intellectual Property Rights in Korea: Avoid “Trying Different Things & Smoking Funny Things”
A popular song regularly played on the radio proclaims that in the summer of 1989 the songwriter, Kid Rock, was “trying different things and smoking funny things.” If you have any exposure to the Korean market, do your business a favor and don’t be like the songwriter. All business with any exposure to the Korean market must have a plan in place to protect their intellectual property. Thus, for the sake of your company, at a bare minimum, you should
Continue readingKorea’s Fairness in Subcontracting Transactions Act Amendments of July 2021
The Korean National Assembly passed a bill in July of 2021 that amends the Fairness in Subcontracting Transactions Act (“Subcontracting Act”). The Act makes major changes with regard to discovery in litigation and aims to protect the intellectual property/confidential data/technical data (“Technical Data”) of subcontractors from poaching by prime contractors. For another article on Korea’s Subcontracting Act please see: Fair Transactions in Subcontracting Act of Korea: So Buyer Beware or Simply Avoid the Risk and Buy the Seller. 2021 Amendments
Continue readingProtecting Trade Secrets in Korea: Top 5 Things to Know Before Subjecting your Business Secrets to the Korean Market
We receive emails, regularly, requesting advice on the protection of IP rights in Korea and China. Most of the issues I addressed in this blog come from these questions. I realized, after writing over 1000 posts on this blog, that I never drafted a post on trade secrets. Don’t blame me, blame my paralegal. 🙂 Definition of a Trade Secret in KoreaAs you probably know, a trade secret is, simply any design, process, formula or the like that is
Continue readingInternational Arbitrations in Korea under the IBA Rules
Procedural Arbitration rules are key to the efficient and effective adjudication of arbitration disputes in Korea and, also, worldwide. These arbitration rules govern and set out the framework for the arbitration process. Evidence gathering and presentation are important aspects of the above procedure, and yet, institutional and ad hoc rules that provide arbitration guidelines on other matters such as the appointment of arbitrators and the nature of award and costs are, usually, silent on this point. Advantages of such a
Continue readingFiling for a Patent in Korea: Basics of Korean Patent Law
Over the next couple of months, lawyers here at IPG Legal shall provide detailed insight and analysis of the Patent Laws of Korea. The following post details the basics of filing for a patent in South Korea. Individuals or companies can register for patents through the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). The application and registration of patents is governed by the Korean Patent Act (“the Act”). In most cases, patents may be filed in English, but extra specific measures should
Continue readingKorean Data Privacy Act: Need for Compliance Audit for your Korean Company
The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) focuses on the data security of personal data of users of the internet. As the EU offers a potentially lucrative market for online businesses for many Korean companies, South Korea was eager to amend its existing Act on the Promotion of IT Network Use and Information Protection of Korea (“Korean Network Act”) based, at least, partially on bench-marking of the EU GDPR. We suggest all companies, doing business in Korea, conduct
Continue readingAmendment to Korea’s Intellectual Property Registration System: Korea IP Law Updates
South Korean organizations, companies and startups will, likely, in the near future experience a quicker and increasingly more efficient Patent and Intellectual Property Registration System in Korea and internationally based on developments within the IP5. Top IP officials in Korea are gearing up, in order to help South Korean organizations, companies and startups register their Intellectual Property more efficiently. It seems like the effort is a serious attempt to expedite approvals and lesson application burdens for those doing business in
Continue readingKorean Patent Law’s Trade Secret Protection: Amendment to Trade Secret Law in Korea
The amended Patent Act of Korea (“Korean Patent Act”) and the amended Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act (“Korean Trade Secret Protection Act”) of Korea shall enter into force on July 9, 2019. The most important key developments are great criminal penalties for trade secret misappropriations; damage awards up to three times of the actual damage regarding infringements of patent rights or trade secret rights; eased litigation requirements for the claimants; and revised basis for calculating royalty damages.
Continue readingLicensee has Standing to Challenge the Validity of a Patent in Korea. Korean Licensing & Royalty Law Updates
Prior to a recent holding by the Supreme Court of Korea, the Korean Supreme Court had conflicting holdings on the definition of an “interested party” under Korean Patent Law. In order for a party to challenge the validity of a patent, in Korea, a party challenging the patent must be an “interested party.” Until this year, it was not clear whether a licensee of the patent in question is an “interested party” with standing to challenge the patent in Korea.
Continue readingKorea Licensing Agreements: Licensing of Technology, Trademarks and other IP in Korea
We always advise our clients for every license agreement that there is a very high probability that at the end of the agreement license payment obligations will not be honored by the Korean licensee. The same holds true for our Chinese and Southeast Asian practices. If a Korean licensee is not going to continue the relationship with the foreign licensor, many Korean companies simply choose to forego the obliged payments in favor of not responding to emails, phone calls and mail.
Continue readingKorea Blockchain Law Society Founded: Korean Crptocurrency Law Updates
The inaugural meeting of the Blockchain Law Society of Korea was held last week. We wrote on the Korean Law Blog articles on Korean Blockchain/Alt Currency Law and shall be participating in the Blockchain Law Society and updating the reader on issues addressed by the Blockchain Law Society. You shall find more articles on Blockchain, Alt currenices, Korean Crypto-currency Law and like topics on this blog over the next couple of months. We are looking forward to more lively discussions and
Continue readingBasics to Successfully Outsourcing Production of your Product to Korea: Korea OEM Basics
So you have decided to outsource the manufacturing of your products to Korea. Good choice in choosing quality-focused Korea over quantity-focused China, but don’t make the bad choice of not considering basic basic legal due diligence necessary to protect your good name, technology, brand and the future of your business. If you plan on just dealing through a purchase order (PO) in Korea, you are heading down a path that may lead to a kick in the behind. The recession hit
Continue reading“Fair Use” Korean Copyright law
Dear Professor Hayes : I am in the process of completing a book on the modern history of the Republic of Korea. A good deal of my work cites news reports, published journals, and first hand reports mentioned in other books, Web sites and personal blogs. My book chronicles the modern developments from the eyes of foreigners who reside or resided in Korea. My publisher wants to confirm that Korea has a “fair use” doctrine, therefore, allowing me to cite
Continue readingTrade Dress Law in Korea. The Copycat May Catch the Mouse
A blog I just, recently, ran into posted an interesting post on Hermes trouble with copycats in Korea. The blog may be found at: Fashion Law Blog. Hermes lost, recently, a High Court case in Korea. Hermes argued, in part, that: ” [Defendant’s] bags – which bear a striking resemblance to its famed Birkin and Kelly styles – run afoul of the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act, which prohibits, ‘causing confusion with another person’s goods by using
Continue readingPublicity Rights/Portrait Rights in Korea: Entertainment Law Basics in Korea
The Seoul Central District Court delivered, in mid 2016, a decision ruling that an individual’s publicity rights (portrait rights) were violated by a person sharing an image on a public social media site. The violators were sharing the images for commercial purposes and shared the images without the publisher’s consent (Seoul Central District Court 2015GaDan5324874). FACTS Mr. A posted photos of himself on his Instagram Page. Mr. B utilzed those photos on Naver’s Band without Mr. A’s consent. Band is
Continue readingKorean Trademark Act Revised: Korean Trademark Act of 2017
The Korean Trademark Act is, often, criticized by scholars and Korean legal practitioners for not being an effective means of enforcing copyrights and for being overly cumbersome. The new changes are a step in the right direction. Korea promulgated on September 1, 2017 the revised Korean Trademark Act. The following are the major changes. Any party may file an action to cancel a a trademark for non-use under revised Korean Trademark Law This change shall, likely, increase the number of
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
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