Patent Office Technology and Trademark Police Expand Investigation Scope to Include Trade Secret Infringement and More

The investigation scope of the Patent Office's Technical Police and Trademark Police will be expanded.

On the 21st, the Patent Office announced that the amendment to the Judicial Police Duties Act passed the plenary session of the National Assembly, providing the basis to expand the investigation scope of the Technical and Trademark Police to major unfair competition acts, utility model right infringements, and overall trade secret infringement acts.

The Judicial Police Duties Act is a law that stipulates the 'Special Judicial Police' system, and based on this act, the Patent Office operates the 'Technical Police' and 'Trademark Police,' composed of experts such as PhDs, lawyers, patent attorneys, technical experts, and experienced examiners and adjudicators.

Based on their expertise in each field, the Technical and Trademark Police have so far investigated 20% of all technology infringement cases and contributed to intellectual property protection by seizing counterfeit goods.

Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

In particular, recently, they played a significant role in apprehending a group that leaked core semiconductor technology to China, effectively acting as watchdogs to prevent overseas technology leakage.

However, previously, the investigation scope of the Technical and Trademark Police was limited to certain unfair competition acts and trade secret infringements, excluding utility model rights. This caused issues such as failure to investigate known intellectual property infringements or delays in case processing due to the need for additional investigations by general police.

The amendment to the Judicial Police Duties Act aims to address these issues by including unfair competition acts closely related to trademark infringement within the investigation scope of the Patent Office's Trademark Police. These include acts such as unauthorized use of famous trademarks on business premises or advertisements, causing confusion by making others mistakenly believe they are the actual business operators (misleading business operator acts), and unauthorized use of famous trademarks on products unrelated to the actual goods, damaging the reputation of the trademark (dilution of well-known marks).

Additionally, the investigation scope of the Technical Police has been expanded to include utility model right infringements and acts that neutralize data protection measures protected under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, such as hacking (neutralization of data protection measures). This broadens the investigation scope to cover overall trade secret infringement acts, including preliminary and conspiracy offenses related to trade secrets, marking a significant expansion of their investigative authority.

Jung In-sik, Director of the Industrial Property Protection Cooperation Bureau at the Patent Office, said, “We consider it meaningful that the investigation scope of the Technical and Trademark Police has been expanded, creating an environment that enhances investigative efficiency. As the investigation scope has expanded, the Patent Office will take on this heavy responsibility and strengthen investigations into intellectual property infringement and technology leakage crimes to minimize damage to domestic companies.”

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