Patent Office "Expanding IP Support for Small Businesses... Preventing a Second 'Deopjuk' Incident"

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is preventing a second ‘Deopjuk’ incident by strengthening the intellectual property capabilities of small business owners.

According to KIPO on the 1st, the Deopjuk incident arose when a Deopjuk restaurant operating in Pohang gained recognition after being featured on the TV show ‘Baek Jong-won's Alley Restaurant,’ and franchise companies filed similar trademarks first, causing controversy.

Since the Deopjuk incident became a public issue in 2022, KIPO has been implementing the ‘Small Business Intellectual Property (IP) Capability Enhancement Project’ to support the intellectual property rights acquisition of small business owners and prevent IP damages.

In fact, last year KIPO supported a total of 4,290 rights acquisitions.

Through the ‘IP Application Support Project’ which supports the application of trade names owned by small business owners, 3,887 cases were supported; through the ‘Traditional Market Joint Brand and Design Development Support Project’ reflecting the characteristics of traditional markets and alley commercial districts, 223 cases were supported in 22 traditional markets; and through the ‘Comprehensive IP Creation Package Support Project’ which supports integrated development of brands and designs reflecting markets, products, and characteristics, 180 rights acquisitions were supported for 89 companies.

Additionally, this year KIPO plans to increase the budget for the ‘Small Business Intellectual Property Capability Enhancement Project’ by 25% compared to the previous year to expand IP support for small business owners.

In particular, the budget for the Comprehensive IP Creation Package Support Project will double this year compared to last year, selecting and supporting 10 companies per city and province. The related budget increased from 3.442 billion KRW last year to 4.292 billion KRW this year.

Yoon Jong-seok, head of the Regional Industry Property Division at KIPO, said, “We will expand the intellectual property rights acquisition support project for small business owners this year to ensure that the achievements painstakingly built by small business owners are not wasted due to unfair trademark preemption by others. Through this, we will raise the intellectual property value of small business owners and provide practical help in increasing sales.”