Trademarks for Traditional Korean Goods See Higher Protection
07 September 2012
Trademark protection designating traditional Korean goods and services such as rice wine (makgeoli) and
non-alcoholic rice drinks (sikhye) is expected to improve dramatically in the United States, Japan and Europe now that the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has joined the common identification project for goods and services with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Japan Patent Office and Europe’s Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market.
KIPO registered 40 Korean goods and services in the official lists of goods and services in those offices. The registered goods and services include Korean distilled spirits (soju), a nonalcoholic cinnamon drink with dried persimmons (sujeonggwa), a soup dish consisting primarily of chicken and ginseng (samgyetang), cubed radish kimchi (kkakdugi), and taekwondo suits.
It is expected that trademark examiners of the participating countries will no longer refuse the registration of Korean trademarks due to a lack of information about traditional Korean goods and services, the statement said.
“Cases where examiners of USPTO, JPO, and OHIM refuse the protection for trademark designating the goods and services used mainly in Korea, will be drastically curtailed,” said director-general Joon-seok Lee of KIPO’s Trademark and Design Examination Bureau said. “The measure is expected to help expedite examinations of trademark applications submitted by Korean companies in those countries and cut the cost for international applications since applicants will no longer need to appoint the foreign representatives in order to explain the traditional Korean goods and services.”
