Copyright Protection more in line with Global Standards
-Korean Intellectual
Property Office releases new copyright protection plan-
On Thursday,
January 24, Commissioner Sang-Woo Jun of the Korean Intellectual Property Office
(KIPO) released a comprehensive copyright protection plan. The plan outlines
ways to meet global copyright standards for copyright under the US-Korea FTA and
addresses the growing number of copyright infringement cases Korean companies
face doing business abroad.
The initiative comes on the heels of South
Korea’s being ranked fourth internationally in the issuance of patents, as a way
to protect not only property rights, but also national image. As a result, S.
Korea will alert the public to stop using counterfeit goods at the government
level and regulate them, and build infrastructure for protecting the national
intellectual property worldwide.
Protecting the intellectual property is
becoming crucial as the national strives to strengthen its competitiveness
facing the knowledge-based economy. Despite the current efforts in this area,
counterfeits trade underground as well as online. Current national standards for
the protection of intellectual property rights have not been received well
internationally. It was ranked 34th by the IMD (International Institute for
Management Development). Inferior counterfeits of Korean goods, inferior in
quality and design, prove detrimental to its overall competitiveness.
*Number of Korean Companies adversely affected by Intellectual Property
Infringement: 27 (’04) ->34 (’05) ->54 (’06) ->49 (’07)
The
plan provides means for the government to alert the public as to how local use
of counterfeit goods exposes them to public health and safety risks, and as to
the dangerous precedents set by using counterfeit goods. Market shares of Korean
goods decline and Korean exports weaken, eroding business profits and dealing a
blow to the national economy.
To improve such awareness among its
citizens and create effective regulations, Korean Intellectual Property Office
reexamines national standards of intellectual property rights and entitlements,
molds to new standards more in line with accepted international standards, and
creates an effective infrastructure ready to respond to infringement cases,
Korean and abroad.
⑴ National Image, Global Protection
In order
to bring Korea’s national image in line with world-class standards, KIPO’s plan
has committed to establishing. By 2012, the Intellectual Property Protection
Strategy Council will be formed under the Office for Government Policy
Coordination. This Council, in conjunction with relevant departments, will set
departmental goals for implementing procedures to ensure protection.
KIPO also plans to launch a government-wide public awareness campaign.
The campaign will alert citizens of the detriment counterfeit goods pose to its
national economy, as well as the public health and safety concerns their use
poses to them. The campaign will include ads posted in places like subways and
internet portals, the formation of citizen watch groups, awards for reporting
counterfeit products and activities, and contests aimed at curbing the use of
counterfeit goods by a major target of counterfeiters, university students.
*Under the new law, awards may be claimed for counterfeits over
20,000,000 won, up from the current level, 1,000,000 won and as of January 2008,
the annual maximum reward for reporters will be reduced from the previous
30,000,000 won to 15,000,000 won
Intellectual property protection forums
will be launched in conjunction with foreign chambers of commerce and embassies
in Korea to promote the national initiatives boosting the images of national
products
*An improvement in the image of Korean products will result in
approximately 10% cost recovery for each product, a growth in export in excess
of $30 billion dollars (as measured in 2007)
⑵ Effective Counterfeit
Monitoring and Regulations
The plan institutes a number of monitoring
and enforcement measures. Searches commissioned to troll online shopping malls,
blogs, and cafes for infringement will report counterfeit goods to the police
and public prosecutor’s office. So informed, the Information Communications
Ethics Committee will duly close these sites. Offline, crackdowns will continue
on the trading of black market counterfeit goods, and government officials will
be educated on monitoring for fakes and frequently copied products, so as to
initiate crackdowns at the local level.
The government, in cooperation
with industrial organizations, will devise ways to promote public awareness of
counterfeits and prevent consumer confusion. In general, KIPO will also act to
strengthen ties with those crucial to regulation and enforcement: the police,
the public prosecutor’s office, the custom office, local governments, industrial
groups, and foreign economic organizations in Korea.
As a part of new
initiatives, the Copyright Law will be overhauled in early 2008. The new law
will ease the rightholder’s burden for proving small-scale intellectual property
infringement during litigation, and revise punishments for “dead copy”
infringement under the Unfair Business Practices Prevention Act.
*Rightholders under the new law seeking damages for relatively minor
copyright infringement online will be relieved from the often difficult burden
of precisely proving the amount incurred in damages
*Dead Copy infringement
occurs when products are copied at the market research stage or when products
with a short market life are copied
⑶ Intellectual Property Protection
Overseas, Dispute Resolution Systems
In order to build the
infrastructure necessary for protection overseas and to hone the dispute support
system toward the efficient resolution of infringement abroad, the plan calls
for the creation of intellectual property dispute desks to be set up at Korean
Investment-Trade Investment Agencies (KOTRA) in regions known for infringement.
These will be located in KOTRA offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Bangkok, and in
either Hochimin or Hannoi. They will provide advice and support concerning
intellectual property rights and laws in their respective countries, and they
will be competently equipped for any disputes that arise from infringement.
*Tentative 2008 Budget Allocation for new Intellectual Property
Infrastructure 4mil won
Business-led Overseas Intellectual Property
Rights Protection Council takes root in foreign countries. It is hoped, in turn,
that this will foster the dynamic exchange of information concerning
intellectual property rights protection. The allocation is also issued to
upgrade the homepages of Overseas Intellectual Property Rights Protection
Center. It is hoped that this will able industry to fully appraise itself as to
foreign intellectual property laws and environments and serve as a communication
channel for advice and assistance in intellectual property infringement
disputes.
*In April 2007, KOTRA is put in charge of the management and
organization of the Foreign Intellectual Property Protection Council, consisting
of 66 members including LG Electronics.
Forums are scheduled to raise
awareness of Intellectual Property-relates laws, their civil litigation
procedures, and taxations in the countries mentioned. These receptions, the
issuance of guidebooks and maps, and surveys of known violations and their
resolution are hoped to stem infringement before it occurs.
*Forums
Scheduled (2008): 12 (8 in Korea, 4 abroad)
*Guidebooks to be Issued by
Country (2008): England, South Africa, India, and Chile
*Planned Surveys on
Intellectual Property Infringement Cases (2008): India, Thailand
*Maps of
Intellectual Property Infringement Disputes (2008): China
In addition,
KIPO will offer financial assistance to Korean companies for initial monitoring
aboard and for lawsuits should they arise. Grants were increased and free legal
advisors, experts in the intellectual property laws of those countries, will be
available to better respond to any losses incurred from intellectual property
infringement.
*Lawsuit assistance: 300 million won (2007) -> 500
million won (2008)
- Assistance per Individual Party (30 million won to 50
million won), Appeal for Invalidation of the rights (10 million won),
Infringement Surveys (5 million won)
*Legal Advisory Group consisting of
30 Patent Attorneys from respective countries (2007)
The plan
concentrates on cooperation with advanced countries to develop better
intellectual property protection in developing countries. It calls for
high-level meetings with countries vulnerable to intellectual property disputes,
including meetings with the commissioners of the Intellectual Property Offices
in these countries, for a better overall environment of protection.
Deputy
Commissioner Tae-Yong Lee said, “We will pursue initiatives to upgrade the image
of our national products so that they can compete with products worldwide. We
are inviting more foreign direct investment to Korea by protecting intellectual
property rights to the same extent as advanced countries.” He added, “We will
continue to develop plans at the government level to support and protect Korean
businesses abroad.”
-Korean Intellectual Property Office-
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