On December 27, 2024, the National Assembly of South Korea passed a proposed amendment to the Trademark Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Amendment"), which will come into effect six months after its enactment.

    The Amendment introduces the following major changes: (1) the opposition period for trademark applications will be shortened to 30 days; (2) the cap on punitive damages for intentional trademark infringement will be raised. Below are the details of these changes:

    Opposition Period Shortened from 2 Months to 30 Days

    Under the current law, anyone can file an opposition to a trademark application within two months from the publication date of the application. However, many oppositions arise after related products have been launched or trademarks that have already been in use are being applied for. Additionally, only about 1% of all published applications are opposed. In light of this, it was widely agreed that the opposition period should be shortened to facilitate faster trademark registration.

    For applicants, this amendment will speed up the overall registration process. With the opposition period being shorter, potential opponents will need to closely monitor trademark publications. However, similar to the current process, it will still be possible to submit a simple opposition notice before the opposition period expires, followed by a detailed opposition application within 30 days after the opposition period ends (for domestic applications, an extension is allowed). In addition, applicants can submit a preemptive informational brief to KIPO to block trademark registration before it is officially published.

    This amendment applies only to trademarks published after the effective date.

    Punitive Damages Cap Raised from 3 Times to 5 Times Actual Loss

    Under the current law, trademark owners can seek damages from infringers based on the infringer's profits, the trademark owner’s lost profits, or reasonable royalties due to the infringement. However, since proving actual damages can be difficult, trademark owners often cannot recover sufficient compensation. To address this issue, a previous amendment to the Trademark Act (October 2020) introduced the concept of punitive damages, allowing a maximum of three times the actual loss for intentional infringements.

    The new amendment strengthens the punitive damages provisions by raising the cap to five times the actual loss. This change is intended to exert additional pressure on potential infringers while granting trademark owners the right to receive more adequate compensation for their losses.

    (Source: jdsupra.com)