1. Most intellectual property infringement is of trademark rights

It was found that most intellectual property right infringement of imported goods was of trademark rights and 90% of fake products are from China. Nine fakes out of ten are coming from China. Intellectual property right infringing goods imported from China represent 8,607 cases, accounting for 87.4% of the total. Most of China-made fake products are bags (2,537 cases) and footwear (2,300 cases). However, the import of sporting goods, miscellaneous goods and home appliances has increased by a great deal, at 2.7, 2.4 and 2.4 times respectively over the previous year. According to the 'Annual Report 2016 of Crackdown on Intellectual Property Rights' published on the 4^th by the Korea Customs Service, analysis indicates that 95.6% (9,422 cases) of the intellectual property right infringing goods (9,853 cases) exposed by the Korea Customs Service last year relates to trademark rights. Due to the increase of overseas direct purchase, mail (5,900 cases) and special cargo (3,646 cases) accounted for 97.0% of the total, but by weight, taking advantage of the popularity of doll drawing game, cargos to be managed and general cargos reached 74.6%.

2. KIPO makes use of 'Effective Early Warning' to prevent trademark piracy in China

Company A, a Korean food manufacturer, came to know recently before advancing into China that its trademark had been filed for domestic application. It was trademark piracy by Chinese trademark hijackers. So Company A asked the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Board for help and raised an objection to the Chinese trademark authorities to have its trademark protected. The KIPO announced on the 11^th that it was providing an 'early warning service' to help Korean enterprises not be harmed domestically in China as in the case of Company A. The greatest objective of this service is to investigate whether there is piracy of Korean trademarks filed with the Chinese trademark bureau every month so as to inform the harmed enterprises of the findings so that they can file applications as soon as possible and help them make oppositions to the Chinese trademark bureau.

3. Design creations ready for patent registration will be protected for one year

The imitation prevention period for design creations ready for patent registration has been extended to one year. The Korea Institute of Design Promotion announced on the 9^th that the notice period of a creation that received 'certification of design creation' would be extended to one year from hitherto 6 months as of the 22th of next month. Due to the amendment to the design protection law in May this year, even a design that has not been awarded rights can take legal action against an imitation for up to one year. The certification of design creation is a system initiated by the Korea Institute of Design Promotion for the purpose of the prevention of imitation of a creation even if it has not been registered with the KIPO. Currently, the certification of design creation does not give an exclusive right to the creation, such that it has to be registered and filed with the KIPO in order to have legal force.

4. Major judgment by Patent Court

A recent ruling determined (Patent Court 2016Huh8414) that description requirements are not met, because the invention of use of a patented medicine is not described as an experimental example representing pharmaceutical data or is not specifically described to such an extent that can replace the data in the specification, and it does not correspond to a case clearly finding a pharmaceutical mechanism showing pharmaceutical efficacy before the priority date of the patented invention.

(Decision contents)

This is a case that description requirements are not met, because the invention of use of a patented medicine is not described as an experimental example representing pharmaceutical data or is not specifically described to such an extent that can replace the data in the specification, and it does not correspond to a case clearly finding a pharmaceutical mechanism showing pharmaceutical efficacy before the priority date of the patented invention.