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Amendments to Trademark Laws

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Mai 06, 2021 (Newsletter Issue 9/21)
South Korea
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Amendments to Trademark Act


The Korean National Assembly has passed additional legislation to strengthen the protection of IP rights. The new legislation includes amendments to the Trademark Act, the Patent Act, the Design Protection Act, and the UCPA Act (Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection), introducing punitive damages for infringement and idea theft.

The amendments to the Trademark Act, Patent Act, and Design Protection Act became effective on October 20, 2020, and the UCPA amendments on April 21, 2021. All of the amendments apply to infringing acts or thefts arising after this date.

The Trademark Act underwent the following amendments:
- Introduction of treble damages for intentional acts of trademark infringement
Courts can now award up to triple the confirmed damages if intentional acts of trademark infringement (Article 110(7)).

- “Reasonably expected” royalties as basis for damages computation
The amendment altered the “ordinarily expected” standard to a “reasonably expected” standard, allowing courts to properly reflect the market reality when calculating royalty-based damages (Article 110(4)). This revision should allow trademark holders to receive higher damages awards.

- Increased maximum statutory awards
The maximum award of statutory damages for trademark infringement is now KRW 100 million and KRW 300 million in case of intentional or willful infringement (Article 111(1)). Previously the statutory damages were up to KRW 50 million.

For more information, please check here

Source: www.leeko.com