Annual Sales of 20 Billion Won: The Secret Behind "Stay Warm from Colds~" [Sound Economy]

Protecting Corporate Brands with 'Sound Trademarks'
Dong-A Pharmaceutical Applies for Trademark on 'Panpyrin' Ad Phrase
Kakao, Hyundai Motor, and Others Protect Sounds Around 5 Seconds Long

"Be careful of catching a cold~"

Dong-A Pharmaceutical's representative comprehensive cold medicine, Panpyrin, was launched in 1961. Along with the Panpyrin doll wearing a headscarf, it gained public love with the catchphrase "Be careful of catching a cold~". For over 10 years, it has maintained the top spot as the best-selling comprehensive cold medicine in pharmacies. However, the representative advertising phrase of Panpyrin, the sales driver, "Be careful of catching a cold~," has only been registered as a trademark for just over a year. According to the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS) of the Korean Intellectual Property Office on the 20th, Dong-A Pharmaceutical applied for the sound trademark "Be careful of catching a cold~" in March 2021, and after examination by the Patent Office, it was officially registered as a trademark last October. Considering that it is the number one comprehensive cold medicine product with annual sales exceeding 20 billion KRW, this can be seen as a delayed response by a mid-sized company. If another company uses the advertising phrase without permission, Dong-A Pharmaceutical holding the trademark rights would be advantageous in legal disputes.

A sound trademark refers to a sound used to indicate the source of a product. As various marketing methods are utilized to promote companies and brands, sounds, smells, and even the location where a mark is displayed on a product can be protected under trademark law. Trademarks that are not letters or figures but sounds, smells, etc., are called non-traditional trademarks. Sound trademarks can be registered if ▲ they are continuously used through advertisements and widely recognized by the public as indicating the source of a particular person's goods, or ▲ the pronunciation of a specific word with distinctiveness is expressed as a sound. The description of the "Be careful of catching a cold~" trademark details the stress, pronunciation, intonation, and tone of each syllable.

The first syllable 'Gam' is pronounced with stress, somewhat strongly and lengthily. The second syllable 'gi' is pronounced weakly and shortly, and the following phrase 'josimhaseyo' is pronounced continuously as one, with intonation and tone rising towards the end. The last syllable 'yo' is pronounced strongly and lengthily.

Kakao is applying for and registering not only trademarks in the form of various letters, symbols, and shapes but also sound trademarks to protect its brand value.

Kakao's 'Katok' sound is also a representative example of a sound trademark. In 2019, the Korean Intellectual Property Office recognized the notification sound 'Katok' of the KakaoTalk messenger as distinctive and decided to register it as a trademark. The four-syllable phrase 'Katokwasshyong' was also registered as a sound trademark around the same time. The trademark description states that the first three syllables are pronounced in a staccato style, short and fast, and the last syllable is pronounced somewhat longer than the first three. Not only Kakao, but large corporations such as Hyundai Motor Company, LG, and SK Telecom have applied for and registered short sounds of about five seconds frequently used in TV commercials as trademarks. Ottogi registered "Ottogi 3-minute Cooking" and "Today also Ottogi Curry" as sound trademarks respectively. Broadcaster Choi Hwajung applied for her voice as a sound trademark last October with phrases like "If it's delicious, zero calories" and "If you eat deliciously, zero calories."

Meanwhile, there is also a 'location trademark' that grants exclusive rights to trademarks displayed at specific locations on products. A representative example is the location trademark of the luxury clothing brand Thom Browne. Thom Browne applied for a location trademark in 2017 for the four white stripes located on the upper left sleeve of their signature clothing. The Korean Intellectual Property Office decided to register it as a trademark based on the fact that it had acquired distinctiveness through use.

Location trademark of luxury clothing brand Thom Browne [Source=Korea Intellectual Property Research Institute]