Up to Fivefold Punitive Damages for Intentional Trademark and Design Infringement

The maximum liability for damages for trademark and design rights infringement will be increased from three times to five times the actual damages.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office announced on July 21 that amendments to the Trademark Act and the Design Protection Act, reflecting these changes, will take effect and be enforced starting July 22.

Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

The expansion of the punitive damages cap is a measure intended to prevent malicious infringement of trademark and design rights and to ensure the effectiveness of remedies for victims.

There have been ongoing concerns in the field that intellectual property infringement is difficult to eradicate because the profits gained from infringement often outweigh the cost of properly compensating for intellectual property rights.

In fact, the number of online monitoring cases of counterfeit goods by the Korean Intellectual Property Office nearly doubled over five years, rising from 137,382 cases in 2020 to 272,948 cases in 2024. This sharp increase in the distribution of counterfeit goods has highlighted the need for stronger protection of rights.

The core of the amendments is to extend and apply the punitive damages system?up to five times the actual damages?for patent and trade secret infringement and idea theft, which was introduced to the Patent Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act in August of last year, to the fields of trademarks and designs as well.

As a result, Korea has established a system that allows for the imposition of punitive damages up to five times the actual damages for intentional infringement of intellectual property rights (excluding copyrights), which is the highest level in the world.

Currently, only China and Korea allow punitive damages of up to five times the actual damages for intellectual property infringement.

Japan does not have any punitive damages system for infringement of patents, trademarks, or design rights. In the United States, punitive damages are limited to up to three times the actual damages for patent and design right infringement, and up to two times for trade secret infringement. Furthermore, the United States does not have a punitive damages system for trademark infringement at all.

Shin Sangon, Director General of the Industrial Property Protection and Cooperation Bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, "With this amendment, we hope to see a reduction in trademark and design infringement, and that companies suffering from infringement will receive substantial compensation." He added, "The Korean Intellectual Property Office also plans to pursue additional institutional improvements, such as introducing an order for submission of evidence, in consideration of the importance of proving intent in order for punitive damages to be properly enforced."

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