News
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Trade Surplus of $180 Million on Intellectual Property in Korea in 2023
Trade Surplus of $180 Million on Intellectual Property in Korea in 2023 Myung-Shin Kim, Adviser The Korean Patent Attorneys Association On March 20, the Bank of Korea released the 'Intellectual Property Trade Balance 2023' statistics. It recorded the most significant annual surplus of $180 million. Intellectual property rights include industrial property rights such as patents, utility models, industrial designs, and trademarks and copyrights such as music, video, drama, webtoons, computer programs, software, etc. The intellectual property trade balance is calculated by separately collecting the current status of the international transactions related to intellectual property rights among the current account items. If Korea receives a price for intellectual property rights from foreign countries, it is considered to have exported them, and if Korea pays for intellectual property rights to foreign countries, it is considered to have imported them. Korea's intellectual property trade balance posted a $160 million surplus for the first time in history in 2021. In 2022, it returned to a deficit of $1.11 billion but was in the black again in 2023.Dividing by type of intellectual property rights, the trade balance of industrial property rights such as patent, industrial design, and trademark rights was a deficit of $2.62 billion in 2022 but a deficit of $1.86 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, the copyright's trade balance was a surplus of $1.74 billion in 2022, but it was a surplus of $2.21 billion in 2023. Among copyrights, music and video copyrights were the largest ever at $1.1 billion, while R&D and software were at $1.11 billion. Dividing by industry, the manufacturing sector had a surplus of $2.77 billion, but the service sector had a deficit of $2.71 billion. Among the manufacturing industries, electrical and electronic products had a surplus of $2.11 billion, and automobiles and trailers had a surplus of $1.65 billion, the largest surplus ever, whereas the Information and communications industry had a deficit of $1.45 billion.By country, Korea had a deficit of $3.23 billion to the United Kingdom and a deficit of $2.09 billion to the United States. However, Korea had a surplus of $2.52 billion to China and a surplus of $1.36 billion to Vietnam.
2024-04-05 -
A Maximum Sentence of 18 Years in Prison If Stolen Abroad of National Core Technology
A Maximum Sentence of 18 Years in Prison If Stolen Abroad of National Core Technology Myung Shin Kim, Advisor The Korean Patent Attorneys Association On March 26, 2024, the Supreme Court Sentencing Committee (the Sentencing Committee) unveiled the new Sentencing Standards, a significant development that underscores the gravity of the issue. These standards stipulate that if national core technologies such as semiconductors, displays, automobiles, etc., are illicitly transported abroad, the court could impose a sentence of up to 18 years in prison, in accordance with the Act on the Prevention and Protection of Industrial Technology Leakage. According to these Sentencing Standards, technology infringement crimes, previously classified as intellectual property crimes, have been independent. The conventional sentencing standards could only be sentenced to up to 9 years in prison for infringement of trade secrets for domestic and foreign technology leakages. However, the Sentencing Committee announced that it had set a range of sentences higher than the sentencing standards for similar criminal groups, reflecting the public consensus on strict sentencing for technology infringement crimes, and under the new Standards, it can be sentenced to up to 18 years for infringement of overseas leakage of national core technologies such as semiconductors, displays, and automobiles, up to 15 years for infringement of overseas leakage of industrial technologies other than national core technologies, up to 9 years for infringement of industrial technologies in Korea. On the other hand, the unique factor for the crime of technology leakage included 'cases that caused serious damage to the victim,' which included infringement of patent rights, trade secrets, technology, etc., in which a considerable amount of R&D expenses were invested. In addition, 'the case where the accused is a person who has an obligation to keep trade secrets or industrial technology as confidential depending on the contractual relationship, etc. was newly included in the scope of a person with a special obligation to maintain confidentiality.' Particular mitigation factors for technology leakage crimes included 'when trade secrets were recovered without being leaked outside' 'and they state that to be recognized, leaked information must be returned, discarded, and there is little room for illegal use.' These Sentencing Standards are a guideline that judges refer to when making decisions. These new standards apply to cases prosecuted on or after July 1, 2024.
2024-04-01 -
Summary of the Revised Unfair Competition Prevention Act
Summary of the Revised Unfair Competition Prevention Act (Effective from August 21, 2024) 1. Extension of Protection Scope of Data The current Act cannot protect data managed in secret, even if it was later known to the public or the known data was collected, processed, and worked in secret. Even in this case, the revised Act stipulated that data was illegally acquired and used as an act of unfair competition. (Article 2, Para. 1, Item 11) 2. Punishment for Damage, Destruction, and Alteration of Trade Secrets The current Act stipulates only the illegal acquisition, use, and leakage of trade secrets as unfair competition, and punishment for damage, destruction, and alteration of trade secrets was weak. However, the revised Act newly established Article 9-8 for the prohibition of damage, destruction, and alteration of trade secrets, and when it is violated, the punishment (imprisonment of up to 10 years or fines of up to 500 million won) is the same as the level of domestic leakage of trade secrets, is applied. (Article 18, Para. 3) 3. Strengthening of Punitive Compensation The current Act stipulates compensation for damages for intentional infringement of trade secrets or exploitation of ideas up to three times the amount of damage. However, the revised Act raised the compensation amount to five times the amount of damage. (Article 14-2, Para. 6) 4. Confiscation of Manufacturing Facilities for Infringing Trade Secrets To prevent secondary damage caused by the distribution of infringing goods arising from unfair competition or infringement of trade secrets, the revised Act newly established confiscation regulations on manufacturing facilities that have created unfair competition or infringement of trade secrets or goods arising from such activities. (Article 18-5) 5. Strengthening of Fines on Corporations Even if most trade secrets crimes involve corporations systematically, the current Act cannot suppress the crime of corporations due to the same level of fines between corporations and criminals. However, the revised Act raised the fines for corporations to be imposed up to three times that of criminals. (Article 19) 6. Extension of the Statute of Limitations on Corporations Although corporations are involved in most acts of stealing trade secrets, the statute of limitations on corporations is shorter than that of criminals, and corporations are exempt from punishment. However, the revised Act extended the statute of limitations for corporations up to 10 years in the same way as criminals. (Article 19-2)
2024-03-18