Requirements for foreigners to enjoy trademark rights in the Republic of Korea

Where a foreigner has no address or place of business in Korea, in principle, the foreigner does not recognize the right to the trademark, but a treaty or agreement is concluded as an exception, or pursuant to the law of the country to which the foreigner belongs, a national of the country to which the foreigner belongs, who permits the right to the trademark, shall also enjoy the right to the trademark.

patent attorneys-at-law, patent attorneys-at-law, and patent attorneys-at-law, patent attorneys-at-law

Director of the Patent Bureau

Patent Court Decision 236 decided October 11, 1974

The original adjudication shall be reversed, and the case shall be remanded to the Patent Tribunal.

We examine the grounds of appeal by the appellant's agent.

According to Article 40 of the Patent Act which applies mutatis mutandis to trademarks pursuant to Article 7 of the Trademark Act, a foreigner who has no place of business or domicile in the Republic of Korea shall not enjoy rights to a patent: Provided, That this shall not apply to a foreigner who does not have an address or place of business in the Republic of Korea pursuant to a treaty or a law, except for the national of the country which permits the rights to a trademark, so long as the foreigner does not have an address or place of business in the Republic of Korea, the court below should have allowed the foreigner to enjoy rights to the trademark (it does not require that the country's law does not specify Korea as the country to which the foreigner belongs, and the applicant's domestic law does not allow the applicant's legal capacity to use the trademark (it does not require that the court below's decision that the applicant is a legal entity of Sweden and that does not have an address or place of business in the Republic of Korea, and that the applicant's domestic law does not constitute a State under the proviso to Article 40 of the Patent Act). Thus, the court below's decision that the applicant's domestic law does not permit the applicant's legal ground for appeal.

Justices Dra-ro (Presiding Judge) Jinh Hak-ho