Knowledge Commune, in collaboration with the Justice Party, successfully mobilized the members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea to introduce this resolution. Resolution urging temporary waiver of certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to tackle COVID-19 pandemic Date: 4 April 2021 Bill No.: 2109314 Proposed …
As I explained in my previous blog post, the open-ended fair use clause in the Korean Copyright Act (“KCA”) was introduced in 2011 in the course of implementing the Korea-US FTA (“KORUS”). Yet, this does not mean that KORUS mandates legislation of fair use. Instead, KORUS restricts the scope of fair use. Footnote 11 of …
The linkage between patent status and drug approval process consists of two elements: notification and prohibition. The notification element refers to a mechanism in which a patentee is notified of the application of marketing approval of a generic product. The prohibition element refers to a mechanism in which a marketing approval of a generic product …
Border Measures KORUS grants a power to the customs authorities to suspend release of suspected counterfeit or pirated goods into free circulation when a right holder requests to do so with “adequate evidence”. The suspension should be applied to “all points of entry to its territory” and remain applicable for at least one year. While …
Trade Minister of South Korea should not undermine the ISDS reform objectives pursued by the Prime Minister On July 12, 2019, the Korean Prime Minister officially stated at the National Assembly that he “agreed to abolish investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)”.[1] This remark is in line with the recommendation of UN human rights experts to UNCITRAL member …
Introduction The provisions for civil enforcement are to ensure to the maximum extent the economic interests of IP holders. For the full compensation for them, KORUS intervenes the way to calculate the amount of damages. KORUS not only guarantees the compensation of “the injury the right holder has suffered as a result of infringement”, but …
One of the main purposes of the US in bilateral negotiation is to level up the enforcement of IPRs, especially enhanced enforcement provisions that the US sought but failed in achieving at the TRIPS negotiation. During the KORUS talks, the Korean negotiators were more or less sympathetic to the US’ TRIPS-plus proposals on IPR enforcement. …
Reportedly, Berjaya Land Berhad (BLB), a subsidiary of Berjaya Group of Malaysia brought an ISDS case against South Korea, claiming damages of KRW 4.4 trillion (around 4.0 billion in USD). According to the Ministry of Justice, Berjaya’s Notice of Intent under the Korea-Malaysia BIT of 1989 was submitted on 17 July, 2019. Back in 2008, BLB began to …
Soon after the signing of the Korea-US FTA (“KORUS”) in June 2007, South Korea experienced a dramatic increase of complaints of copyright crime from 2007. Around one hundred thousands of persons were accused of copyright infringement in a year, and juvenile’s victims occupied 24% in 2008.[1] But the actual indictments by the prosecutors were very small: from …
On 12 July 2019, the Prime Minister of South Korea, Mr. Lee Nak-Yon, attended the National Assembly and said that he agreed to abolish ISDS. (Media coverage: Yonhap, Hani, Khan) This remark came out while his responding to a lawmaker, Mr. Song, at the plenary session of the Budget and Accounting Committee. The Prime Minister gave reasons for his consent: an …