특허법인 남앤남

Practice Notes IP Marking in Korea: Risks and Benefits

There is no obligation to mark your IP rights on products in South Korea. Whether to do so is at the discretion of the IP owner, and there are no direct negative legal consequences arising from failure to indicate IP rights.

Patentees, for example, can seek damages from the patent grant date regardless of whether their patent is indicated, and any person who infringes a patent shall be presumed negligent regarding such infringement no matter whether the patent is marked on the product or not.

Nevertheless, indicating IP rights does grant some legal benefits, which will be discussed below. Also, from a practical sense, it may be a useful advertisement or marketing tool, e.g., to show the public that the company is innovative, deter competitors from copying, persuade the public that the article has government approval, or even lead the public into thinking the article is better than others.

1. What are the legal benefits of IP marking?
2. How should IP rights be marked on products?
3. Should patent-marked products be identical to the claimed elements of the patent?
4. What are the consequences of false marking?
5. What can be done if it is found that somebody else is falsely marking?

If any IP markings considered to be false or improper are located, this fact can be notified to the Center for Prevention of False IP Marking (www.ip-navi.or.kr) which is operated in conjunction with the Korea IP Protection Agency (“KOIPA”) and the Korean IP Office (“KIPO”). If it is found that the markings are indeed false or improper, KOIPA or KIPO may recommend appropriate corrective measures such as deletion and modification of the markings.  Should the offender not comply with the corrective measures, KOIPA or KIPO may then file a criminal complaint in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act.

 

 

Written by Ben YUU 

2020-09-18 12:12:00

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