A trademark right holder or a design right holder may claim compensation for damages against a person who intentionally or negligently infringes his or her trademark right or design right if the right holder can prove the damages he or she has suffered due to the infringement.

In this regard, amendments to the Trademark Act and the Design Protection Act became effective on October 20, 2020, in order to allow the right holder to claim compensation up to three times the amount of actual damages against an "intentional" infringer. (The so-called treble damages system had already been introduced in the Patent Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act which became effective on July 9, 2019.)

There may be occasions where it is practically challenging to prove the amount of damages.  The Trademark Act allows the right holder to claim, instead of actual damages, an amount as damages within the scope stipulated in the Act.  To this end, the intentional or negligent infringer must have used a mark identical or substantially identical to the registered trademark for a product that is identical or substantially identical to the designated goods. (This is called a "statutory damages compensation system" differentiated from a general compensation system.)

In the above amendments to the Trademark Act, the maximum amount of statutory damages has been increased to 100 million KRW (300 million KRW in case of intentional infringement).

Damage claims under the amended Trademark Act and Design Protection Act may be made against infringements that have occurred after October 20, 2020.