Cooperating with Interpol for 'Design Infringement Prevention'... "World's First Case in the Industrial Property Field"

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the National Police Agency are taking measures to prevent new types of crimes related to design infringement through cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization (hereinafter Interpol).

The KIPO Special Judicial Police for Technology and Design (hereinafter Technology Police) recently announced on the 27th that they issued an Interpol "Purple Notice" regarding domestic design infringement criminals in collaboration with the Interpol International Cooperation Officer of the National Police Agency, and shared it with Interpol's 198 member countries.

The Purple Notice issued by the Technology Police and the National Police Agency contains information about new criminal methods related to design infringement and product form imitation, such as disguised sales of "Ross" products. Ross products refer to items that brand companies sell without trademarks later on, which were overproduced by consigned manufacturers to prepare for defects.

However, recently, counterfeit products made from different fabrics have been disguised as Ross products and sold at higher prices than ordinary counterfeit goods, unfairly gaining profits. This trend led the Technology Police to issue the Purple Notice.

The Purple Notice is one of the eight types of notices issued by Interpol. Its purpose is to share new criminal methods among member countries to prevent similar crimes through borderless responses.

Considering the rampant new criminal methods in the design field, the Technology Police expect that the issuance of this Purple Notice will have a significant crime prevention effect. Through the Purple Notice, the international community can respond jointly, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of design infringement crime prevention activities, which had previously been limited to individual countries' efforts.

In particular, the issuance of the Purple Notice related to design infringement by the Technology Police and the National Police Agency is meaningful as the world's first case in the field of industrial property rights.

Since 2011, over 1,240 Purple Notices have been issued worldwide. Among these, 21 cases were requested and issued by Korea, including drug offenses (8 cases), telephone financial fraud (3 cases), maritime kidnapping (3 cases), special theft (1 case), firearm manufacturing (1 case), illegal immigration (1 case), cultural heritage smuggling (1 case), industrial technology leakage (1 case), NFT fraud (1 case), and design infringement (1 case).

The issuance of a Purple Notice for new types of crimes related to design infringement is the first case worldwide, including Korea, and the Technology Police emphasized that it will serve as an opportunity to highlight Korea's proactive stance in the criminal field to protect intellectual property rights.

Jung In-sik, Director of the Industrial Property Protection Cooperation Bureau at KIPO, said, "KIPO has built and operated specialized investigative personnel and organizational systems to eradicate intellectual property infringement crimes. The issuance of the Purple Notice will announce KIPO's commitment to protecting intellectual property rights to the world and serve as a foundation for effectively responding to intellectual property infringement crimes by sharing information related to the production and distribution of infringing products domestically and internationally with Interpol."

The International Cooperation Office of the National Police Agency (Interpol International Cooperation Officer Office) stated, "As the National Central Bureau of Interpol in the Republic of Korea, the National Police Agency supports domestic law enforcement agencies other than the police to utilize Interpol's extensive infrastructure. We hope that the issuance of the Purple Notice by the Technology Police will prevent the production and distribution of counterfeit products and improve the international community's awareness of counterfeit goods."