"K-Fashion Counterfeits Beware"... Launch of Fashion IP Center for Intellectual Property Protection

Establishment of 'Fashion IP Center' within Korea Fashion Industry Association
Supported by KIPO, Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency, and Ministry of Trade
Chairman Seong Rae-eun: "We will strongly protect domestic fashion IP"

The Korea Fashion Industry Association is launching the ‘Fashion IP Center (FIPC)’ to protect intellectual property (IP) such as trademarks and designs of domestic fashion companies. Although K-fashion is gaining global attention and expanding overseas, it has been judged that IP protection has not been thoroughly implemented. The association plans to take the lead in protecting K-fashion’s global IP through the Fashion IP Center.

At the opening ceremony of the Fashion IP Center (FIPC) held on the 4th at the Youngone Trading Building in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Chairman Sung Rae-eun (center) and key attendees are conducting the plaque unveiling ceremony.
[Photo by Minji Lee]

At the FIPC opening ceremony held on the afternoon of the 4th at the Youngone Trading Building in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Sung Rae-eun, president of the Korea Fashion Industry Association, said, “With the emergence of Chinese e-commerce and the dismantling of distribution network borders, as well as the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), serious IP damage to K-fashion is a concern. We will use the launch of the center as an opportunity to protect IP more strongly and systematically.”

The value of K-fashion in the global market is increasing every year. Interest in domestic designer brands has also grown alongside major corporate fashion brands. According to the Bank of Korea Economic Statistics System, the export scale of K-fashion intellectual property rights last year was $1.2 million, showing a 386.4% increase compared to $250,000 in 2017.

As the number of fashion brands going overseas increases, cases of IP infringement are also rising. In fact, fashion company F&F detected 4,000 trademark infringements and 240,000 suspected counterfeit cases per month. At the meeting, Jung In-sik, director of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, “There are many counterfeit issues in China and Southeast Asia. When we cracked down in Guangdong Province, China, we seized about 500 million won worth of counterfeit goods. As counterfeit problems become more serious, the launch of the IP center is very encouraging.”

FIPC is an organization established by the Korea Fashion Industry Association to provide one-stop support for protecting K-fashion’s IP. Its main tasks include ▲protecting core IP (trademark rights, design rights, etc.), ▲auditing the distribution of counterfeit goods and eradicating design plagiarism campaigns, and ▲changing consumer and seller awareness.

To this end, FIPC will support preventing and responding to IP disputes and refer infringing products to investigative agencies. It will also conduct continuous monitoring to pre-check the online distribution volume of counterfeit goods and support blocking counterfeit products on each online market.

Additionally, it plans to create a healthy consumption environment through customized IP education and consulting, as well as campaigns to eradicate counterfeit goods. The main campaign slogan is ‘Don’t Copy, Don’t Sell, Don’t Buy,’ meaning do not copy, sell, or buy.

Finally, President Sung Rae-eun emphasized, “Even if counterfeit products appear in the market, we will bring about structural changes so that consumers do not choose them.”