"Overseas Our Products Too?" KIPO Conducts Preemptive Diagnosis of Counterfeit Distribution

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is recruiting companies to participate in the ‘K-Brand Overseas Online Counterfeit Product Pre-Diagnosis’ program.

Examples of counterfeit 'K-Brand' products that actually occurred and were dealt with overseas. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

On the 16th, KIPO announced that it will conduct a pre-diagnosis to help domestic export companies quickly identify and seek remedies for damages caused by counterfeit products overseas.

Experts on counterfeit products from the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency will investigate for three months whether participating companies’ products (brands) are being traded on 21 e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba, Shopee, and Tokopedia, which operate in major countries such as China and Southeast Asia, and provide a free diagnostic report.

Any domestic export (or prospective export) company suspected of having counterfeit products distributed overseas can participate in the pre-diagnosis.

Applications can be submitted through the ‘Overseas K-Brand Protection Portal’ from the 17th of this month until October 16.

KIPO plans to provide companies confirmed to have counterfeit product distribution with the ‘Overseas Online Counterfeit Product Monitoring and Blocking Service’ offered by private online counterfeit product monitoring specialists.

This service focuses on real-time monitoring and blocking of overseas online counterfeit product distribution in cooperation with six private specialized companies.

Additionally, KIPO explained that if companies wish, they will support ‘K-Brand response strategies’ such as local enforcement and litigation overseas.

Kim Si-hyung, Director of the Industrial Property Protection Cooperation Bureau at KIPO, said, “The overseas online counterfeit product pre-diagnosis is provided free of charge and is expected to be of practical help in preventing damages from counterfeit products for small and medium-sized enterprises. We will strive to ensure that our companies do not suffer from counterfeit product damages overseas.”

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