News: Trademark registration in Korea

Registration of trademark in South Korea

South Korea is a vivid example of economic miracle that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. It became one of the richest countries in the world in only half a century. The foregoing is the reason why many producers are trying to arrange export of products to the Republic of Korea.

But it should be taken into account that great competition in the local market requires exporters to strictly implement national legislation concerning protection of rights on trademark.

There are two ways to register trademark in South Korea, namely: according to international and national procedure. In the first case, registration is carried out in accordance with the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol to it.

In the case of the national procedure, the application is submitted to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).

There are some national peculiarities of the trademark registration procedure in the Republic of Korea. There is the Law on trademarks of South Korea, according to which the following can be registered as trademark:

- any letter, sign, figure or three-dimensional object, and also their combination;
- any color or combination of colors, hologram, movement or other elements;
- any smell, sound, etc.

The application for registration of trademark in South Korea should contain: name (designation) and address of the applicant, design of the trademark, list of goods (services) with indication of their class and date of filing. In addition, 10 copies of the image of the trademark should be attached to the application, and, if necessary, a power of attorney and a document on the right of priority.

The application for registration of trademark should undergo two examinations, namely: formal one and substantive one. But first it passes initial verification and in case of non-compliance it is returned to the applicant without assigning a number. Return occurs in the absence of any document or if the application is not compiled in Korean. After the verification, formal examination is carried out, and then - substantive examination. Therefore, the period from the moment of registration to the completion of examination is on average 11 months.

Certificate of registering a brand name in South Korea

If during the examination there was no reason to refuse registration or all objections were rejected, the application is published in the Official Gazette.

After that, third parties have the right to raise objections during 2 months, and if during this period the Office has not received any objections, next is the final stage of registration.

If the application is recognized, the Office decides to register the trademark. The applicant pays the registration fee and applies to the Office, where he is issued a certificate of trademark registration.

Law&Trust can provide you with service for the entire range of activities related to the registration of trademark in South Korea, up to obtaining the Certificate of Registration.