Korea Takes Action to Stop Foreign Abuse of IP Rights

by Brendon Carr on May 11, 2007

Finally! Korea is taking action against the rampant abuse of intellectual property rights… by the big, bad multinationals who’ve become notorious for stealing Korean ideas.

{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

1 EFL Geek May 11, 2007 at 7:34 pm: wouldn’t it be better to clean up the shit in your own backyard before complaining about the rest of the world.
2 seouldout May 11, 2007 at 7:58 pm: Or maybe it’s a defense fund.
3 slim May 11, 2007 at 8:35 pm: Does Korea have legitimate complaints here?
4 R. Elgin May 11, 2007 at 9:03 pm: Recently, there are legitimate complaints to be made over China, however, it seems that Koreans are the main enablers of corporate espionage in Korea. I’m still waiting to find out more about Daewoo, Doosan and Mynamar (Burma) and the illegal transfer of arms technology to Burma by these companies.
5 SomeguyinKorea May 11, 2007 at 11:36 pm: If they are serious about fighting copyright infringement within the tech industry –and not just trying to increase the flow of foreign exchange into Korea– they might want to have a look into how a certain Korean software company has been using an icon that looks an awful lot like Spysweeper’s yellow target for the anti-spyware function in its own anti-virus software.
6 Hwarang May 11, 2007 at 11:39 pm: Chinese buying auto secrets… North Americans buying all the illegal DVDs near It’aewon and Yongsan E-mart… it’s all because of foreigners. Right. I’ll stop there.
7 Richardson May 12, 2007 at 12:34 am: Slim,
I think they do;

http://www.dprkstudies.org/2006/11/24/hyundai-get-what-if-gives-with-copycat-cars/

But they still have a pot-kettle issue.
8 slim May 12, 2007 at 2:51 am: Thanks, Richardson. I’m sure China is robbing the Koreans blind in IPR, but I took the gist of the Chosun article (which fails to note the pot-kettle irony or even include the relevant background of Korea’s IPR record here) to be that Korea needs to protect itself from Western firms.
9 Netizen Kim May 12, 2007 at 4:09 am: What’s mine is mine and what’s your’s is mine also. That’s the way it works, folks.
10 Maekchu May 12, 2007 at 6:19 am: Koreans are one of the worst countries at ripping off copyrights, ideas and intellectual property. Didn’t Starbucks lose a court case in Korea recently against a Korean owned chain that was blatently using a version of the Starbucks logo? I can go to any electronics market in the country and get any pirated DVD I want for 5,000 won.

Not to mention the Denny’s restaurant that opened in Taegu a couple of years ago. Exact same sign and logo. Thinking it was a real Denny’s, I visited the establishment….for about 5 seconds. Turns out it was a Korean owned spaghetti fusion restaurant. Like EFL Geek said, the Bucket-heads should clean up their own backyard first.

Would anyone in their right mind really want to copy a Korean idea anyway? I don’t think there is a market for pleather orange sofas.
11 Netizen Kim May 12, 2007 at 6:29 am: Why anyone would want to copy Denny’s Restaurant is beyond me.
12 ORblog May 12, 2007 at 7:08 am: More hijacking of Korean IP – Stephen Colbert rips off Rain.

-Tony
13 SomeguyinKorea May 12, 2007 at 10:37 am: “Why anyone would want to copy Denny’s Restaurant is beyond me.”

Yeah. Been there once in Canada. It was relatively expensive and the food tasted like it had been pre-cooked, frozen, and microwaved, even the scrambled eggs.
14 mins0306 May 12, 2007 at 10:56 am: Looks like a publicity stunt by the CJ group.
15 michael May 12, 2007 at 10:58 am: It’s like “Starpreya” never happened….

Funny that only about 10 years ago: “South Korea is stepping up efforts to gather critical technology secrets by means legal and illegal — prompting increased fear among government officials and industrial security experts of intellectual property rip-offs.
In their zeal to acquire technological data, South Korean officials are “trying to beat the system, to beat our controls” on technology exports, said James Dearlove, a Defense Intelligence Agency official charged with monitoring technology trade issues.

The technologies most sought by South Korea are: nuclear energy; biotech; and aerospace, including rockets, computers and aircraft.”

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/print/9_4/9086-1.html

Now that S.K. has its loot in the bag it’s the other guys that arethe problem…OK.
16 Railwaycharm May 12, 2007 at 9:47 pm: I can forgive the Denny’s thing, I mean when you consider original Korean restaurant names like Donkey Fried Chicken and Road Bugger how can one stay angry?
17 toki December 22, 2008 at 3:35 pm: Yeah, and they would have a lot of cleaning to do, considering that the majority of Korean cars are copies of European and Japanese models!