메인 > 영어게시판 > Reinforcement of criminal penalties for distribution of counterfeit products

To reinforce controls and penalties on the manufacture, distribution and sales of counterfeit (or so-called 'fake') products, the KIPO has recently introduced special judicial police authority for their staff since last August, 2010. At 11:00 a.m., on September 8, KIPO accordingly held a welcoming ceremony for the special judicial police squad for trademarks in the Government Complex Daejeon. The ceremony was held to announce the formal establishment of the special judicial police squad for trademarks to raise public awareness on rooting out the distribution of counterfeit products. Prominent figures from various fields attended the ceremony.

Despite KIPO's efforts to strengthen anticounterfeiting measures, the enforcement actions of the KIPO, jointly with local governments, have been limited exclusively to administrative measures such as exposing counterfeit products distributed in local markets and warning the offenders with administrative guidance such as advice on rectification. However, owing to the special judicial police authority, KIPO can now apprehend the manufacturers, distributors and vendors of counterfeit products, sending them directly to the prosecution and punishing them with criminal penalties. Accordingly, the anti-counterfeiting activities of the KIPO are expected to be greatly reinforced.

The number of applications filed for industrial property in Korea ranks 4th in the world. On the contrary, Korea's protection level for intellectual property ranks 32th among 58 countries, according to the World Competitiveness Index reported by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in May 2010 (In 2009, Korea ranked 33rd). One of the reasons for such a low ranking is the wide-spread commerce in counterfeit products, piratical editions and illegal copies in the on/offline markets of Korea. The distribution of counterfeit products not only damages healthy trade, but also hinders the development of brands, trademarks and authentic markets. It also disgraces the national image, giving foreigners negative ideas about the transfer of technologies or investing in Korea. Therefore, the lawful industries, consumers' organizations and foreign investors have continuously made demands for a greater level of IP enforcement. Accordingly, KIPO has been lobbying the government to grant special judicial authority to our enforcement staff and, on April 27, 2010, the National Assembly finally passed the relevant bill. According to the new legislation, the anti-counterfeiting agents of the KIPO were assigned as a special judicial police squad for trademarks by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to act in full scale starting September.

Currently, the special judicial police squad of the KIPO is divided into three local offices (a Seoul office to control the metropolitan area, a Daejeon office to control the Chungcheong and Honam areas and a Busan office to control the Yeongnam area) with a total of 15 special judicial police officers. In the future, anti-counterfeiting activities of local markets will be assigned to local governments, while the KIPO will focus on seizing and apprehending large-scaled counterfeiting activities (manufacture, distribution and sales). The KIPO will especially work on illegal online shopping malls. When counterfeit products are distributed online, the KIPO will not only close the related website down, but also arrest the vendor by tracing the IP address, etc. To do this, the KIPO is planning to purchase forensic devices used for investigating digital crimes and develop a system for tracing IP addresses during the latter half of this year. Then, next year, the office is planning to operate an online cyber investigation team. The KIPO will continue to expand the organization and function of its special judicial police squad.

※ For special areas or fields which require expert knowledge, the special judicial police system allows officials of the administration to directly execute investigative activities such as seizure, search, apprehension and more, under the direction of the public prosecutor. The special judicial police system in the KIPO has been operating since August 5, 2010 as the revision of the 'Law regarding the operator of special judicial police and the scope of such operation' passed the National Assembly.