Patent Office "Strengthening Protection of K-Brands... Preventing Overseas Damage"

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 11th that it will strengthen the functions of the ‘K-Brand Protection Portal’ and reopen it with new features.

Since 2022, this portal has played a role in providing related information to allow users to grasp at a glance the overseas distribution damage information of counterfeit K-Brand products.

Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

When suffering damage from the overseas distribution of counterfeit products, smaller companies such as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) tend to face difficulties such as cost burden, lack of information, and language barriers.

The K-Brand Protection Portal addresses these challenges faced by SMEs by subdividing the damage information of counterfeit K-Brand product distribution by country or online platform, enabling users to easily understand the information.

The function enhancement focuses on visualizing related information such as counterfeit product distribution damage by overseas country and allowing companies to directly check information on unauthorized trademark preemption damage.

KIPO provides methods for reporting counterfeit products on major overseas online platforms through the K-Brand Protection Portal, supporting companies to block the distribution of counterfeit products on their own.

By adding the ‘Unauthorized Preemption Suspicion Information Search’ function, companies can directly search for their own damage information, improving the efficiency and convenience of information provision, and establishing a foundation to actively respond by regularly monitoring their damage status independently.

Previously, since 2017, KIPO has monitored ‘Unauthorized Trademark Preemption Suspicion Information’ starting with China and included Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam as target countries.

Jung In-sik, Director of the Industrial Property Protection Cooperation Bureau at KIPO, said, “Considering the continuous increase in overseas consumption of K-Brands, it is important to provide companies with ongoing information so they can proactively prepare for K-Brand disputes.” He added, “KIPO will continue to enhance the functions needed by companies to improve their convenience and self-response capabilities.”