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 …
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 …
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 …
January 5, 2018 Michael BeemanAssistant United States Trade RepresentativeOffice of the United States Trade RepresentativeWashington, D.C. Dear Mr. Beeman: This letter is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of this date, which reads as follows: “In preparation for initiating negotiations on amendments and modifications to the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), I would like to outline …
Now we got a piece of negotiation documents of KORUS FTA. They reveal the US unilateralism, which will be pursued more strongly by the Trump Administration. Efforts of Korean negotiators to insert “Korea” into the KORUS Preamble were all failed. Compare the final text and failed proposals of South Korean Government (SKG). US Proposal (16 June 2007) …
When the KorUS FTA was negotiated from 2006, the Korean Supreme Court delivered its opinion against ISDS to the Korean government twice in 2006 and 2007. Ridiculously, the opinion of 2006 was disappeared for unknown reason. Here is the opinion of 2007. English translation was made by the Korea National Assembly in May 2012 upon …
This is a rare victory. The court has long been reluctant to raise hands of individuals having rights to know, especially when it comes to trade agreements. Back in 2007 when the KorUS FTA talk was close to a conclusion, the court decided in favor of the Korean government to keep confidential draft texts of …
One of the controversies in implementing the KorUS FTA is whether biological products are subject to the patent linkage obligation of the KorUS FTA. The debate was provoked by the Korean government’s proposal which applies the patent linkage to biologics. But it is unclear if the FTA text imposes such an obligation. Chapter 18 (IPRs) has no definition …
Korean National Assembly Members’ Caucus Against the Korea-US FTAKorean Alliance Against the Korea-US FTA For Immediate Release Jan. 27, 2011Contact: Heesob Nam – +82-10-9981-1180, hurips@gmail.comMi-kyung Ryu – +82-10-9279-7106, inter@kctu.org Joint Statement of Korean lawmakers, labor unions, farmers and civil society groups on the proposed Korea-U.S. FTA We, the Korean National Assembly members’ Caucus Against the Korea-US …