About 100 yellow tents have been set up around Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station in Seoul. From 8 PM to 3 AM the next morning, the so-called yellow tent 'Saebit Market' opens briefly during nighttime hours. This place is currently known among domestic and international tourists as an international(?) counterfeit market.
On the 3rd, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that on the 16th of last month, the 'Saebit Market Counterfeit Goods Investigation Council (hereinafter the Council)' conducted a simultaneous joint crackdown, seizing 854 counterfeit items and non-detainingly booking six wholesale and retail business operators, including Ms. A (62, female), on charges of trademark law violations.
The Council is composed of KIPO, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Jung-gu Office of Seoul, and Jungbu Police Station of Seoul. Considering the operational characteristics of Saebit Market, where over 100 tents closely gather and operate during nighttime hours, there was a shared recognition that individual crackdowns have limitations, which led to the formation of the Council.
The hit-and-run style and the spiderweb-like connected spaces (yellow tents) and communication networks among merchants reduce the effectiveness of crackdowns, making it easy for them to be one-off events, which also influenced the formation of the Council.
On the day of the counterfeit goods crackdown held at Saebit Market (yellow canopy) in Dongdaemun, Seoul. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office
The effect of conducting crackdowns through the Council was clear. On the day of the crackdown, the Council deployed 28 personnel on-site and simultaneously entered 12 yellow tents without prior notice. At the scene, counterfeit goods of 28 brands including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Gucci?covering 8 product categories such as clothing, shoes, and hats?were massively detected, unable to be hidden or smuggled away in time. In a single crackdown, 854 counterfeit items were seized within a short period.
Among those caught in the crackdown, Ms. A and one other person were street vendors who had received road occupancy permits for Saebit Market on the condition of complying with trademark laws, while Mr. B (45) and four others were unauthorized street vendors who illegally subleased yellow tents from permitted vendors and sold counterfeit goods.
Currently, only street vendors permitted by the Jung-gu Office of Seoul can operate in Saebit Market under permit conditions. If these permit conditions are violated by selling counterfeit goods and a fine or heavier penalty is confirmed for trademark infringement, the previously granted permit can be revoked.
Based on this, the Council plans to continue crackdowns until the sale of counterfeit goods is eradicated by linking permit cancellations to investigation results following simultaneous joint crackdowns.
Each institution will continue individual crackdowns at Saebit Market, share crackdown results through a hotline, and if a street vendor is confirmed to have received a fine or heavier penalty for trademark infringement, the Jung-gu Office of Seoul will cancel the vendor’s permit accordingly.
Last month, the overall coordination of the Council’s formation and crackdown was handled by the KIPO Trademark Special Judicial Police. Park Ju-yeon, head of KIPO’s Trademark Special Judicial Police, pointed out, “The Dongdaemun area is located in the heart of Seoul and frequently visited by foreign tourists. Considering this, the current status of Saebit Market, known as a place selling illegal counterfeit goods, does not align with Korea’s stature as an advanced intellectual property country.”
She added, “The Council is an organization formed by multiple institutions recognizing the seriousness of the counterfeit goods issue at Saebit Market, and going forward, the ‘one team’ will continue sustained crackdowns until the counterfeit goods issue disappears from Saebit Market.”
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