SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Dongju Kwon, Chulgun Lim, Sejung Lee and Yoon Sun Kim, Yoon & Yang LLC
For wilful infringement, the TMA provides for treble damages, while the UCPA provides for quintuple damages. However, the amended TMA, effective as of 22 July 2025, provides for quintuple damages for wilful trade mark infringement occurring on or after that date. Under both the TMA and the CA, the rights holder may elect to claim either actual damages or statutory damages as compensation. Statutory damages are relatively easy to obtain even when evidence of actual damages is insufficient. However, they are only appli - cable for cases involving registered trade marks, and are subject to caps. The TMA caps statutory damages at KRW100 million (up to KRW300 million for inten - tional infringement), whereas the CA caps it at KRW10 million per work (up to KRW50 million for intentional infringement for profit). 10.3 Attorneys’ Fees and Costs Typically, the losing party is responsible for paying litigation costs, including attorneys’ fees. However, since attorneys’ fees can vary, the court regulates the amount to be included in litigation costs through its rules. These rules set the attorneys’ fees as a percent - age of the claim amount, which varies depending on the size of the claim. 10.4 Ex Parte Relief An application for provisional attachment or seizure is carried out solely by the creditor, without notify - ing the debtor. It can be initiated concurrently with, immediately before or after filing a lawsuit. The aim is to prevent the debtor from concealing assets, and the debtor remains uninformed until a decision is made. This procedure, however, is not exclusive to trade mark or copyright owners, but is a generally recog - nised enforcement procedure. 10.5 Customs Seizures of Counterfeits or Parallel Imports Customs Seizures of Counterfeits Korea Customs Service offers a procedure to detain goods infringing on IP rights. To protect these rights at the customs level, rights holders must file a “rights protection report” with the Customs Service. Follow - ing this, they can submit a request for customs deten - tion and provide security.
For reference, the amended TMA, effective as of 22 July 2025, defines “trade mark use” to include “sup - plying into Korea, through a carrier or other third par - ty, goods or goods packaging bearing a trade mark affixed abroad”. Accordingly, the Customs Service may seize such counterfeit goods supplied into Korea regardless of whether or not the recipient is acting for profit. Parallel Imports Parallel imports are permitted in the following cases: • the imported good is authentic, with the trade mark legally affixed by the overseas trade mark owner; • the identity of the source is satisfied, such as the domestic and foreign trade mark owners being the same person; and • there is no significant quality difference between the imported goods and the domestic trade mark owner’s goods. In addition, parallel importers must not falsely repre - sent themselves as official dealers of the good. However, for copyright, there is no explicit regulation on international exhaustion, leaving the legality of par - allel imports unclear. The appellate court for a registered trade mark infringement lawsuit is the IP High Court, while for unregistered trade mark or copyright infringement lawsuits the appeal is heard by high courts with juris - diction over the first instance court or the collegiate panel of the respective district court. The deadline for filing an appeal is within two weeks from the date the written decision is delivered. The losing party in the first instance court must submit an appeal to such court within that period, stating the identity of the parties and legal counsel (if any), the court’s verdict and the grounds for the appeal. Sub - sequently, the respective case records are submitted to the responsible appellate court. 11. Appeal 11.1 Appellate Procedure
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