Patent Office "Korea-China Trademark Trial Cooperation Resumes... Strengthening Trademark Protection"

Trademark trial cooperation between Korea and China is set to resume. This is expected to strengthen the protection of Korean companies' trademark rights in China.

On the 19th, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that it recently held a director-level meeting on trademark trials between the two countries in Beijing, China, to discuss current issues and future cooperation plans in the field of trademark trials.

Park Yong-ju, Senior Trial Judge of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (sixth from the left), and Sun Zhangyan, Deputy Director of the Trademark Trial Department at the China National Intellectual Property Administration (seventh from the left), along with others, are posing for a commemorative photo after holding the "Korea-China Trademark Trial Cooperation Meeting" on the 18th in Beijing, China. Photo by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

This year's cooperation meeting on trademark trials between the two countries is significant as it marks the resumption after more than eight years since 2015.

In particular, KIPO expects that this occasion will lay the foundation for effectively protecting the trademark rights of Korean companies operating in China.

China is Korea's largest trading partner and also the country with the highest number of trademark applications from domestic companies (about 18,000 cases). Conversely, China is also the country where trademark disputes involving Korean companies occur most frequently. This underscores the urgent need for close cooperation between the two countries in the field of intellectual property protection.

In this context, considering cultural similarities and the expansion of trade volume, both countries reached a consensus that the importance of mutual cooperation for trademark protection will increase. They discussed future cooperation plans by sharing practical experiences on trials against malicious trademark registrations such as unauthorized use of famous trademarks, and by comparing the trademark trial procedures and systems of both countries.

Above all, to ensure the meeting is not a one-time event, they agreed on establishing an annual meeting system and continuously discussing cooperation tasks such as exchanging trademark trial statistical data.

Park Jong-joo, President of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, stated, “To effectively respond to trademark disputes overseas, it is important to accurately understand not only the local laws and systems but also how actual trial practices are handled.” He added, “We will strive to strengthen cooperation with China in the field of trademark trials and help domestic companies effectively respond to trademark disputes in China.”

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