Patent Office Warns "Lotto Winning Number Prediction Service 'Illegal'"

There is a concern that services predicting and providing Lotto winning numbers may violate current laws, requiring caution.

On the 20th, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) urged consumers to be cautious, stating that ‘Lotto winning number prediction services’ that use the Taegeuk mark (logo) symbolizing the Government of the Republic of Korea without permission or falsely display patent information have a high likelihood of violating the Act on the Prevention of Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets (hereinafter referred to as the Unfair Competition Prevention Act) and the Patent Act.

Recently, some Lotto winning number prediction services have been misleading consumers by claiming that they can accurately predict Lotto winning numbers and enable first-place wins, promoting themselves by falsely displaying government symbols and intellectual property rights or claiming to improve prediction accuracy through patented technology.

The problem is that there have been numerous cases of damage caused by being misled in this way. In fact, the Korea Consumer Agency received a total of 1,917 damage relief applications related to Lotto winning number prediction services from 2019 to 2023. The reported damage cases included refusal of refunds, excessive penalty fees, and failure to comply with refund agreements.

Under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, unauthorized use of government symbols as trademarks violates the prohibition on the use of national or official emblems (Article 3). Additionally, unauthorized use that causes the government to be mistaken as guaranteeing quality may constitute unfair competition (Article 2, subparagraph ba).

Furthermore, acts that damage sound trade order by misappropriating government symbols for trademark use can be subject to corrective orders and fines under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. If criminal penalties apply, offenders may face imprisonment of up to three years or fines of up to 30 million KRW.

Advertising using expressions such as ‘Lotto prediction service with patent application or patent registration’ without actual patent application or registration may constitute false indication of intellectual property rights.

Under the Patent Act, false indication refers to marking a product or the like with patent registration or application when it is not registered or applied for, or using markings easily confused with such, which is subject to administrative guidance. In such cases, imprisonment of up to three years or fines of up to 30 million KRW may be imposed.

Jung In-sik, Director of the Industrial Property Protection Cooperation Bureau at KIPO, stated, “Unauthorized use of government symbols or false patent markings can lead to legal penalties under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and the Patent Act,” adding, “Consumers need to be careful not to suffer financial damage from such illegal activities.”