On December 27, 2024, South Korea’s National Assembly passed a sweeping set of amendments to its core intellectual property laws—namely, the Patent Act, Utility Model Act, Trademark Act, and Design Protection Act. These amendments, which have taken effect on July 2025 was an effort to bringing Korean law closer in line with global standards while addressing long-standing criticisms from both IP rights holders and legal experts.
Below we have summarizes the key amendments to the aforementioned laws:
Amendments to the Patent Act and the Utility Model Act
Exporting Now Explicitly Counts as Infringement
Before the amendments, “exporting” a patented product was not explicitly listed as an act of infringement under the Patent Act and Utility Model Act, despite being stipulated as so in the Trademark Act and Design Protection Act. This gap meant that rights holders often struggled to hold exporters of infringing goods accountable in court. With the latest amendments, “exporting” is now expressly an infringing act, therefore resolving one of the key points of the criticisms.
Patent Term Extension Limits
The new amendments have introduced strict limits on patent term extensions (PTEs) for pharmaceutical drugs. Previously, five years of extension were permitted to compensate for regulatory delays, but without a hard cap on the total patent duration or restrictions on how many patents could be extended per drug approval.
Under the new amendment, no patent may be extended beyond 14 years from the date of drug approval, regardless of how long regulatory delays took. Furthermore, only one patent per drug approval can receive a PTE. These changes are so that South Korea’s patent laws align closer to international standards, such as in United States and Japan. Before amendments, certain drugs may already be available abroad but not in South Korea due to extended patent terms.
Penalties for Secrecy Order Violations
A third critical change concern criminal penalties for violating secrecy orders—government directives that restrict foreign patent filings or require confidentiality for inventions related to national defense. Now, violations can result in:
- Up to 5 years in prison or
- KRW 50 million in fines for individuals
- Up to KRW 100 million in corporate fines for supervisory failures
Amendments to the Trademark Act and the Design Model Act
The Trademark Act and Design Protection Act were not left untouched. Two notable changes aim to streamline administrative processes and deter intentional infringement:
Trademark opposition periods
Trademark opposition period has been reduced from 60 to 30 days after publication. The law retains a two-stage opposition process: a notice can be filed within 30 days, followed by a later statement of grounds. Foreign parties may be granted up to 60 extra days to complete their submissions, and the system still allows pre-publication informational briefs, letting third parties flag concerns before an application is published.
Punitive damages for intentional infringement of trademark and design rights have been increased
Punitive damages for intentional trademark infringement has been raised to 3-5x the damage This is meant to deter deliberate infringements—like counterfeiting or misuse of well-known marks—and offer stronger protection to trademark holders. The amendment signals a stricter stance against bad-faith actors and reinforces Korea’s commitment to meaningful IP enforcement.
Conclusion
These amendments are a testament to South Korea’s commitment to advancing and improving their IP ecosystem—responding to criticisms while also aligning international standards. As one of the biggest commercial and technological hub in the world, it is at the best interest for IP owners in Indonesia (especially in the patent and trademark fields) to pay close attention to South Korea’s IP developments.
For more questions and IP related inquiries please contact us at ambadar@ambadar.co.id
