1. KIPO to reinforce sanctions on unused ‘stored trademarks’

 

The KIPO will prevent negative effects that block an actual user from using a stored trademark that is registered but is not used.  For this purpose, the KIPO announced that a ‘fee added system’ will be implemented in earnest at the application and registration stages and a ‘use intent confirmation system’ at the examination stage respectively.  

 

Stored trademarks have been causing problems such as restricting genuine trademark users from obtaining or selecting a trademark, and causing delays of the examination because the registered trademark database has become unwieldy.  

 

In the use intent confirmation system, the examiner will ask the trademark registration applicant about his intent to use the trademark in case the examiner has reasonable doubt about the applicant’s intent to use the trademark, and the applicant can prove his intent to use by submitting the fact that he has used the trademark or data that prove the fact that he is preparing to use it.

 

The fee added system is to be implemented from April 1; if the number of designated goods or designated services exceeds 20 at the time of the application for trademark registration, initial and renewal registrations, the applicant is to pay a basic fee of 56,000 won plus an additional fee of 2,000 won per designated good according to the system.

 

 

2. Settlement of patent dispute to become quicker

 

The Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal announced that it will process the judgment cases relating to patent disputes pending in the Court or the Korean Trade Commission within four months after request for judgment by additionally designating them as objects to be judged quickly.  

 

The patent infringement lawsuits of this country (demanding compensation for damages, injunction decisions) take place in the general civil court (District Court, High Court), and separately from this, in the Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal are made judgments for confirming the scope of a patent right to determine whether an implementer’s product belongs to the patent right and invalidation judgments to determine whether a patent is valid or invalid.

 

The Tribunal has been supporting for early settlement of patent disputes by designating the judgments for confirming the scope of the patent right cases pending in the patent infringement suit as objects to be judged quickly, but amended the regulations for handling the judgment task in such a way that the invalidation judgment cases also are processed within four months after request for judgment by designating them as objects to be judged quickly.

 

 

3. KIPO extensively relaxes the requirements for applying for preferential examination of a trademark

 

The KIPO announced that it will extensively relax the requirements for applying for preferential examination of a trademark as of the coming April 1.  Accordingly, the applicant for trademark registration who needs to have an examination processed quickly can have preferential examination easily, so it is expected that he can obtain the trademark right in two or three months after filing an application for trademark registration.

 

So far, if the applicant for trademark registration applied for preferential examination for the reason that he has used or will use the application trademark, he has to submit evidentiary data for all of the designated goods, but from now on, he can have preferential examination even if he did not submit evidentiary data for similar goods as long as he proves the fact that he has used or will use the major designated goods.

 

In the general examination procedures, the result of examination cannot be known until about ten months has passed since the date of filing the application for trademark registration. But as the requirements for applying for preferential examination are extensively relaxed, the road for obtaining a trademark quickly is broadened.

 

 

4. Supreme Court rules “Kolon’s Alpenster infringed trademark right”

 

The Supreme Court has ruled that Kolon’s Alpenster, a brand for mountain-climbing supplies, infringed the trademark right of Alpinestars, a sportswear brand of Italy.

 

The Supreme Court Section 1 (Chief Judge: Supreme Court Justice Lee In-bok) announced on the 26^th that it overturned the original decision that dismissed the trademark registration invalidation suit filed against Kolon Industry, Ltd. by Alpinestars Research SRL and remanded the case to the Patent Court of Korea, ruling in favor of the plaintiff.

 

The Court judged “the appearances are similar” on the grounds that the names of the two brands are not written in special fonts, that the first three alphabets are the same ‘ALP’ and that the alphabetical sequences are identical after the middle.

 

 

5. Idea Bridge, an asset management firm dedicated to intellectual property rights, was launched

 

Idea Bridge, which is the first asset management company in this country dedicated to intellectual property rights, was launched in earnest.  The company announced, “We will make and operate a fund that invests in intellectual property rights such as core patents, trademarks and designs belonging to corporations and set up a No. 1 private offering fund of 100 billion won in the first half of the year.”

 

The No. 1 private offering fund of Idea Bridge asset management will be operated in such a fashion that it gathers the funds of investors to purchase intellectual property rights (patents) of domestic corporations at reasonable prices and receive patent royalties from corporations and give them back to the investors. “It is a win-win structure whereby the corporations will increase profits by having their ideas evaluated at reasonable values and the investors will receive royalties whenever their patents are utilized; ultimately the fund could contribute to the development of the domestic intellectual property right industry,” explained the company.