"Approaching as a Consumer" KIPO Strengthens Monitoring and Crackdown on Online Distribution of Counterfeits

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is strengthening crackdowns on design infringement (counterfeit) crimes in online distribution channels.

KIPO's Special Judicial Police for Technology and Design announced on the 31st that it will start operating the "Design Infringement Crackdown Support Team" (hereinafter referred to as the Support Team) from the 1st of next month.

The Support Team will continuously monitor the distribution of design imitations by acting as general buyers and retailers in large online distribution markets such as AliExpress and Temu, and will obtain investigation-linked information on habitual and large-scale distributors and sellers.

Recently, distribution platforms like AliExpress and Temu have been used as channels for habitual and large-scale cross-border distribution of design imitations. The methods of design infringement crimes by distributors and sellers have become more sophisticated and diversified, making it difficult to detect criminal acts using only traditional reporting and reception investigation techniques.

Considering these circumstances, KIPO has established the Support Team within the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency to continuously monitor fields where design infringement is frequent, such as clothing and fashion, and plans to have technology police formulate crackdown plans targeting large-scale producers, sellers, and distributors based on imitation product distribution information collected through the Support Team.

In particular, the investigation-linked information obtained by the Support Team by conducting surveillance activities disguised as consumers, such as imitation products and transaction details, is expected to be used as evidence of design infringement crimes in future investigations, thereby accelerating the investigation process.

Jung In-sik, Director of the Industrial Property Protection Cooperation Bureau at KIPO, said, “Infringing on others' designs undermines the creative motivation of honest designers and disrupts the order of the distribution market. As part of proactive administration, KIPO plans to operate the Support Team to preemptively respond to the indiscriminate spread of design imitations by large-scale distributors and sellers.”