"Patented Product?" 696 Cases of False Intellectual Property Marking on Camping Gear Detected

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Camping equipment sold online with false intellectual property rights labels has been mass detected.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 8th that it conducted a special inspection of over 5,000 camping equipment sales posts on online markets and identified 696 cases of false intellectual property rights labeling across 12 products.

The special inspection was conducted from September 8 to October 8 on camping equipment sold on major online markets such as 11st, Gmarket, G9, Auction, Smart Store, Interpark, Coupang, Tmon, and Wemakeprice.

The background for KIPO’s special inspection was to prevent consumer damage amid increasing demand for camping products, including car camping supplies, due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The main violations detected during this process included 527 cases (75.7%) of incorrect intellectual property rights names, 125 cases (17.9%) of labeling expired rights as valid, and 44 cases (6.3%) of labeling products under application as registered.

KIPO requested online markets and businesses to take corrective actions such as modifying or deleting posts with false labeling.

A KIPO official stated, “Together with the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency, we will strengthen inspections of false intellectual property rights labeling on products related to the public’s hobbies and leisure activities. Additionally, we plan to expand related education for major online operators and marketplace sellers to prevent false labeling.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.