Patent Office Establishes 'Reward for Reporting' Online Posts Selling Counterfeit Goods

On the 8th, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that it will establish and operate a reward system for reporting online posts aimed at selling counterfeit goods.

The newly established reward system targets reports of 'sales posts' selling counterfeit goods across multiple channels. The reward can be received when evidence is found that the same seller is selling counterfeit goods on two or more channels, and the posts have been blocked or otherwise dealt with.

KIPO plans to select recipients quarterly and pay 50,000 KRW per report, with a maximum of 250,000 KRW per person annually.

Reports can be submitted to the Intellectual Property Infringement One-Stop Reporting and Consultation Center by providing URLs of sales posts on two or more channels, evidence screens confirming the same seller (per channel), and evidence screens suspected of counterfeit goods (per channel).

Report route for counterfeit product sales posts. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

Previously, KIPO has operated a reward system for reporting counterfeit goods since 2006. Under the existing system, rewards were paid when reported counterfeit goods cases were forwarded to the prosecution with an indictment opinion and the detected amount met the payment criteria.

The new reward system was introduced additionally considering the increasing normalization and multi-channel nature of online counterfeit goods sales. KIPO will maintain and implement the existing reward system alongside the new one.

Jung In-sik, Director of the Industrial Property Protection Cooperation Bureau at KIPO, stated, “The activation of the e-commerce market is creating blind spots in the crackdown on counterfeit goods online,” adding, “With the establishment of the reward system for reporting, KIPO aims to raise awareness about online counterfeit goods and promote a healthy commercial culture.”

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