1. “Europe trademark information search to become easier – KIPO signs MOU with OHIM

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 26^th that it signed an MOU with OHIM at Geneva, Switzerland, to exchange the two agencies’ databases of recent trademark information and open them to civilians at no charges.  With the signing of the MOU, companies can check in real time beginning in October, through KIPRIS, which is a domestic intellectual property right information search site, the weekly-updated information as well as past information because the service in the Korean language is provided in TMclass, which is a trademark classification information search site of OHIM of Europe as well as in TMview, which is a trademark information search site.  Since a trademark can be registered after prior investigation into the trademark thanks to the MOU, the number of damage cases is expected to decrease.

2. Streamlining patent lawsuits in Europe to be delayed – Domestic businesses should pay attention to the period of formal objection

According to the European business community of intellectual property (IP), the enforcement of UPC that concentrates on the European patent dispute settlement jurisdiction (court) will be delayed at least one to two years from the originally agreed January next year.  This is because they agreed on a large section of the UPC but the decision on the details of implementation and the period of ratification by respective European countries were delayed.  Unlike the current law in which the courts responsible for patent dispute settlement are different between countries, the UPC is a system in which the UPC court rules on patent infringement and validation so as to be effective all over Europe.  If judgment on patent infringement is made in one country, patent infringement is acknowledged also in all of the 25 countries which agreed on the UPC.  Therefore, it has an advantage that companies that do business in Europe can save time and expenses.

3. Supreme Court rules “using an English + Hangul trademark should be regarded as using the same trademark to refer to the same name and idea even if the English trademark or Hangul trademark only was initially used

The Supreme Court panel of judges (Chief Judge: Justice Park Bo-young) ruled on the eighth in the registration cancellation lawsuit filed by Corporation A against Company B that although the appearances are different, the name and idea are the same, and the trademark was used to mean the same so it overturned the original decision against the plaintiff and remanded the case to the patent court.  The decision by the Supreme Court panel of judges is that a trial for the cancellation of trademark registration that is not used cannot proceed on the Hangul trademark even though only English “CONTINENTAL” was used without using Hangul “콘티넨탈” for more than three years previous.  It is noteworthy that the ruling changed the precedent Supreme Court decision in which it was deemed that a cancellation request could be made for a trademark part not used if either side only was used for three years because of different appearances between English and Hangul trademarks.

4. Fair Trade Commission to regulate foreign patent trolls, 50 or so of which are active and harming domestic enterprises

The Fair Trade Commission is trying to regulate “Patent Trolls” (firms dedicated to managing patents) which demand excessive patent fees from Korean enterprises.  Korean companies have been targeted by patent trolls since 2008 to the end of May this year with a total of 556 lawsuits. Currently, more than 50 foreign patent trolls are active, and more than 500 Korean firms were sued by these patent trolls in recent five years.  The patent trolls which filed the most lawsuits against Korean enterprises are American Vehicular Sciences (33 cases), Golden Bridge Technology (19 cases), Industrial Technology Research Institute (15 cases), Beacon Navigation (12 cases), and so forth.

5. A group who siphoned off the high technology for coating ceramics of their past workplace to set up a company in China was prosecuted

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency International Crime Investigation Team announced on the 11^th that they imprisoned a former officer B (age 49) of Company A on a charge of siphoning off to foreign and domestic companies a product manufacturing technology whereby ceramic layers are made on the surfaces of electronic products and kitchen utensils that require heat conductivity and durability (in violation of the law relating to leakage prevention and protection of industrial technology) and put two persons including C (age 45) on the wanted list.  According to police, three persons including B are suspected of accessing the internal computer network of Company A for which they worked since June 2011 and siphoned off the manufacturing technology of the raw material of ceramic coatings and blending ratio thereof.  It was found by investigation that they set up a local production corporation of a joint venture with a Chinese company which imported products from Company A beginning from a month after joining the company in July 2011 and left the company sequentially from February 2012.

6. On-and-off taxation on the brand usage fee confuses group holding companies