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KIPO booked 8 sellers who sold counterfeit products and confiscated about 3,000 counterfeit products (corresponding to about 20 billion Korea Won) in Myeongdong, Seoul(News Letter No. 550) |
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KH |
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2025-04-16 |
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1. KIPO booked 8 sellers who sold counterfeit products and confiscated about 3,000 counterfeit products (corresponding to about 20 billion Korea Won) in Myeongdong, Seoul.
- The counterfeit products corresponding to about 20 billion Korea Won, which were sold targeting foreign tourists in Myeongdong, were confiscated.
- The counterfeit product sellers created a secret warehouse to avoid crackdowns and conducted business for foreign tourists only.
- Against a clever technique of selling counterfeit products, a planned investigation has been carried out since about June 2024, to achieve results.
According to KIPO, its trademark special judicial police (hereinafter, referred to as a ‘trademark police’) arrested 8 people including “A” (male, age: 53) who sold and distributed counterfeit products, such as bags, clothing, wallets, etc., to foreign tourists only in the tourist area in Myeongdong, Seoul, without detention on charges of violating the Korean Trademark Act.
The trademark police focused on cracking down on the tourist area (Feb. 13~14 and 24, 2025), confiscating the total of 3,544 counterfeit products (genuine market price: about 20 billion Korea Won) in 6 counterfeit product stores.
According to the trademark police, “A” and the others are suspected of distributing and selling the counterfeit products, such as bags, clothing, wallets, etc. to foreign tourists in bag stores in Myeongdong, Seoul.
The suspects invited foreign tourists through touts. Then they introduced the counterfeit products, which were placed in the secret spaces in the stores, as SA level or mirror level, to sell those counterfeit products. The SA, mirror level is the relevant industrial term meaning, among counterfeit products, those that are of high quality or made to look exactly like a mirror.
To avoid crackdowns, they hired touts and were investigated for soliciting targeting foreign tourists only, specially, for soliciting mainly female tourists. In addition, they closed the store doors and when touts brought guests, they sold counterfeit products and again closed the store doors. Through this business conduct, they have avoided detection by investigative authorities.
From the time the suspects opened the sales offices, they created secret sales spaces, separately from the sales offices. to sell counterfeit products.
The trademark police has carried forward the planning investigation since around June, 2024, to respond to the sales technique of selling counterfeit products cleverly to avoid detection in Myeongdong which is an essential shopping course for foreign tourists.
The trademark police arrested 8 people including “A” who sold and distributed counterfeit products, without detention on charges of violating the Korean Trademark Act and confiscated the total of 3,544 pieces from the items (such as bags, clothing, wallets, etc.) of overseas famous brands. The estimated genuine price is approximately 20 billion Korea Won.
To eradicate counterfeit products in Myeongdong, Seoul, the trademark police will continue monitoring and enforcing counterfeit products. The trademark police plan to conduct a thorough investigation by continuing beyond a single action and further expanding the planning investigation, such that an act of distributing counterfeit products be severely punished.
2. KIPO joins hands with Korea Automobile & Mobility Association (KAMA) to discover future mobility technology.
- KIPO discussed IP collaboration plans with those from companies, academia and research, etc.
- KIPO and KAMA promised cooperation for discovering a promising future mobility technology.
KIPO held a meeting to discuss IP linked collaboration plans with people from 14 companies and agencies of car company and parts companies, academia and research, etc. and signed a business agreement to discover a promising future mobility technology with KAMA.
The 14 companies were 2 car companies including Hyundai Motor, Renault Korea, 8 parts companies including Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Transys, Hyundai WIA, Hanon Systems, HL Mando, SL, Namyang NEXMO and THINKWARESYS, 4 related agencies, Korea Automotive Technology Institute, the Korea Society of Automotive Engineers, Korea Autonomous Driving Development Innovation Foundation and Korea Automobile Industry Cooperative Association.
In the meeting, KIPO shared trends of patent applications in the car area and analysis cases of patent big data and shared varous opinions on ways to strengthen IP cooperation in the mobility area.
The companies and agencies participating in the meeting proposed to ▲ strengthen the policy to support IP-linked research and development, ▲ share IP information on key mobility technology, and ▲ expand education of overseas IP rights for private companies. They also requested to make an effort for a rapid IP protection of research and development results.
After the meeting, KIPO and KAMA signed the business agreement with the main points: ▲ creation of an IP right relating to a future promising key technology in the mobility area, and ▲ cooperation of mobility-related technology and IP information exchange, etc. This business agreement was carried forward to discover and protect the future promising mobility technology by using IP and to improve industrial competitiveness.
3. KIPO established and published 「plan to promote invention education expansion for elementary school」.
- Creative convergence IP talents with future social capabilities are actively fostered.
- Connected invention education content, such as elementary school self-study time, extracurricular activities, Neulbom full-day elementary school, etc., are diversified.
- The number of invention education classes of the full-day elementary school increased (from 9 to 69) and the number of teacher training schools for invention education increased (from 2 to 13).
Neulbom school invention education starting for 9 classes in the second semester in 2024 expands to 69 classes in the first semester this year. The number of teacher training schools for invention education program to train professional teachers for invention education will be also increased from 2 this year to 13 by 2030, to establish the infrastructure for invention education on a full scale.
KIPO published the plan to promote invention education expansion for elementary school including the above content, through the 2nd ministerial conference on social relations. This plan to effectively incorporate invention education into the elementary school curriculum and to expand the invention education proposed the basic direction and key tasks of future invention education policy in elementary school.
As it has been important to develop the ability to creatively solve problems and the innovation capabilities of students, the need for invention education is becoming more apparent. Specifically, cultivating individual capabilities has become important due to the decline in the school-age population, creating a situation where the promotion of policies to support students to grow as creative individuals is necessary.
In this regard, KIPO establishes and implements the plan to promote invention education expansion for elementary school with the following content:
KIPO has continued to make an effort to introduce the invention education to the elementary education curriculum. As a result, according to the curriculum revised in 2022 (implemented in 2024), an invention relating ‘object textbook’ was introduced in the 2nd semester, 2nd year. This means a lot since all second graders of an elementary school can get an invention education in the school. In addition, the invention education was expanded to Neulbom school through the inter-ministerial cooperation.
In this year, the invention education program will be diversified by developing an authorized textbook for 3rd to 6th grade invention education, which can be applied in a self-study time to be newly introduced according to the 2022 revised curriculum, and by dividing the Neulbom school content into grades. In addition, the foundation enabling an universal invention education throughout the elementary curriculum by strengthening the cooperation system with the provincial offices of education will be prepared to increase adoption rate of the relevant content.
The demand for invention teachers and private invention instructors is expected to increase according to the expansion of invention education content. In this regard, the substance of an invention education will be strengthened by developing quality teaching talent, such as by promoting an expansion of a school with an invention education curriculum in cooperation with a teacher training school by region, and by establishing a system to develop a private invention instructor and manage the quality thereof to operate a safe invention education in schools.
Finally, a medium- and long-term plan to strengthen the linkage between a regional invention education support center and an invention education center to build an efficient operation system of invention education infrastructure. In addition, an invention education development institute in charge of invention education-related research and development and policy support will be newly designated and operated, thereby expecting to introduce the 2022 revised curriculum and to enable a systematic response to changes in the educational environment, such as digital proliferation, etc.
The main content of the medium- and long-term plan is: ▲ reexamination of roles of the regional invention education support center and the invention education center, ▲ understanding of new demand of the regional invention education support center, and ▲ review of the overall operation of the invention education infrastructure, such as establishment of direction of propulsion, etc.
4. South Korea took 1st place in ranking in the number of patent applications relating to cosmetics for hair loss.
- South Korea ranked 1st with the percentage (42.9%) of the patent applications filed by the major countries.
- Korean companies including CAREGEN LTD., Amorepacific Corporation, etc. ranked 1st and 2nd in the number of the relevant applications.
KIPO analyzed the patent applications related to cosmetic for hair loss (hair and scalp care products), which were filed by the major countries over the last 22 years (2002~2023). As a result, the percentage of the applications filed by Korean applicants was 42.9%, ranking 1st.
Cosmetics for hair loss which are functional cosmetics to be mainly used for hair and scalp are helpful for hair loss prevention by blood circulation, hormone control, etc. The global market of cosmetics for hair loss is expected to expand to about 31 trillion Korea Won in 2025.
Upon reviewing the nationalities of the applicants filing the patent applications relating to cosmetics for hair loss by the major countries, South Korea was highest with 42.9% (576 applications), followed by Japan with 20.2% (272), US with 17.2% (231), China with 8.9% (119) and Europe with 7.7% (104).
Most of active ingredients of cosmetics for hair loss are found through basic research processes which are similar to those of medicines and medical supplies, however, it is sometimes developed with ideas from the old books (such as Donguibogam containing principles and practice of eastern medicines, Bencao Gangmu) or traditional medicinal materials. These active ingredients could be classified as natural materials, bio materials and synthetic materials, based on the types thereof.
- Natural materials are Materials extracted from natural materials, such as plants and animals and include a variety of active ingredients (ex: herbal extracts, etc.).
- Bio materials are materials, such as protein, enzyme, etc. which are developed through the biotechnology (ex: stem cell-derived protein, etc.)
- Synthetic materials are chemical components of particular structures synthesized through a chemical method (ex: : Minoxidil, etc.)
By type of ingredient of cosmetics for hair loss, South Korea ranked 1st in the percentages of the applications in the natural and bio materials field, 50.0& (241 applications) and 56.4% (216), respectively, showing that it led in the number of the relevant applications in these fields. In the synthetic material field, US ranked 1st with 32.6% (156), South Korea 2nd with 24.8% (119) and Japan 3rd with 21.5% (103).
By major applicant, CAREGEN LTD., a company specialized in bio materials, was 1st (115 applications), Amorepacific Corporation, a company specialized in cosmetics, was 2nd (72), and LG Household & Health Care was 4th (25), showing that 3 Korean companies were listed within the top 10.
By type of ingredient, Amorepacific Corporation was 1st (40) in the natural material field and CAREGEN LTD. was 1st (115) in the bio material field, so that it is able to confirm the superiority of Korean companies in the natural and bio material fields.
5. KIPO published the result of analyzing the patent performance of government research and development (R&D) over the last 5 years.
- The government R&D patent performance secures the qualitative competitiveness beyond the quantitative growth.
- An annual average of the relevant overseas patent applications increased by 7.2% and the annual average of technology transfer agreements of universities and public institutes increased by 3.9%.
The patent performance of R&D supported by the Korean government has shifted to the qualitative growth with competitiveness in global market, beyond the quantitative expansion.
In the 68th deliberation meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology, which was held on March 13, 2025, KIPO published the result of analyzing the patent performance of the government R&D over the last 5 years (2019~2023). This analysis was conducted to maximize the efficiency of the government R&D investment and to reflect in the research and development policy the result of analyzing the creation, utilization and management status of the research and development performance.
The number of Korean patent applications created through the government R&D in 2023 was 37,396, decreasing by 0.6% compared to the previous year. However, the number of the relevant overseas patent applications was 7,017 with an increase of 13.3%, showing a clear increase by an annual average of 7.2% over the last 5 years (2019~2023). This suggests that the R&D performance has secured the competitiveness targeting the global market.
The ratio of evaluating excellent patents through a system to measure, analyze and rate patent technology (SMART5) increased, indicating that the qualitative level of patents has also improved.
In addition, the patents of the government R&D have acted as an important factor to promote the establishment of businesses. The number of startup cases based on the government R&D patents in 2023 was 768, which increased by 4.5 times compared to 169 in 2019. Notably, since the likelihood of starting a business in the research and development tasks with patents was higher by 3.6 times than tasks with no patents, it is clear that securing patent rights is a key factor to the companies which want to commercialize the research and development performance.
The number of technology transfer agreements to utilize the government R&D patents owned by universities and public research institutes has also steadily increased. The number of the technology transfer agreements was 4,676 in 2023, showing an annual average increase of 3.9% over the last 5 years (2019~2023). Most of technology transfer cases were accomplished domestically but the number of overseas technology transfer agreements was also counted as 21.
Especially, in the case of owning overseas patents, the rate of concluding an agreement worth more than 100 million Korea Won in technology transfer agreement was 48.8%, and in the case of owning only Korean patents, it was just 8.9%. This means that securing overseas patents was a key factor to maximize the profitability of technology transfer.
Among the number of standard patents, 3,541, excluding those by big companies from 2006 to 2023, the percentage of standard patents by the government R&D was 46.1% (1,634). This shows that the government R&D has played an important role in securing standard patents of universities, public institutes, small and medium companies, and medium-market companies.
Although the cost for securing and maintaining/managing a standard patent is high, once a standard patent is secured, it is evaluated as a valuable asset to create long-term high values. Actually, among 69 technology transfer agreement cases based on the standard patents relating to the government R&D, a total revenue of 28.65 billion Korea Won was generated in 10 agreement cases worth over 1 billion Korea Won.
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