Patent Office "Experts from Various Fields Collaborate to Eradicate Design Infringement Crimes"

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is joining forces with experts from various fields to eradicate design infringement crimes.

KIPO's Special Judicial Police for Technology and Design announced on the 26th that it will consecutively hold the "Design Infringement Crime Response Enhancement Conference" at EL Tower on the 30th of this month and the "Design Counterfeit Exhibition" at COEX from the 1st to the 4th of next month.

The conference and exhibition were planned to raise public awareness of the value of design as a category of intellectual property and to explore ways for the design industry, academia, legal community, and government agencies to respond to design infringement crimes together.

At the conference, Eunjeong Lee, adjunct professor at Ewha Womans University, will present on "The Need to Improve Awareness of Design Infringement Crimes," lawyer and former designer Yukyung Seo will discuss "Criminal Law Responses to Design Infringement Crimes," and Taeyechan Tae, senior staff at Iconix Co., Ltd., will speak on "The Industry’s Position on Design and Product Form Imitation Crimes."

Additionally, the Fair Consumer (FAIR?conSUMER) campaign, which promotes paying fair compensation for creative efforts in design, will be introduced. Attendees from various sectors will lead a challenge declaring "Starting with Us, Fair Consumers!"

The Fair Consumer Declaration Challenge will involve related agencies such as the Korea Fair Trade Commission, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Prosecutor’s Office, National Police Agency, as well as affiliated organizations including the Korean Society of Design Science, Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency, and Korea Intellectual Property Research Institute.

The Design Counterfeit Exhibition will be held as part of some booths at the "Korea Intellectual Property Expo," hosted by KIPO.

The exhibition will introduce know-how from the perspectives of the Design Protection Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act to help the general public determine whether a design has been infringed, providing an opportunity for citizens to directly experience design-infringing products.

On-site, technical police and professional counselors from the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency’s "One-Stop Intellectual Property Infringement Reporting and Counseling Center" will also offer consultations on design infringement cases.

In-sil Lee, Commissioner of KIPO, stated, "We must clearly recognize that design infringement and product imitation are criminal acts that discourage sincere designers’ creative motivation and deprive small and medium-sized enterprises of growth opportunities." He added, "KIPO will take the lead in fostering a healthy and fair design industry ecosystem through the hosting of this conference and exhibition."

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