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| Judgment of the Constitutional Court of Korea relating to Art. 7, Para. 3 of the Korean Trademark Act |
According to Art. 7, Para. 3 of the current Korean Trademark Act, it is stated that in case the other
person's prior-registered trademark identical with or similar to the later-filed trademark has existed
at the time of filing the later-filed trademark application, even if the prior-registered trademark is
invalidated after filing of the later-filed trademark application, it will bar registration of the later-filed
trademark by maintaining the status of prior-registration, at the time of filing the later-filed trademark
application.
However, recently the Constitutional Court of Korea judged that the above provision has not contributed
to the purpose of the original legislation for preventing a mistake of quality or confusion of the source of
the goods among general consumers and has infringed on the right of the later-filed trademark
applicant without any reasonable reason, and the judgement was rendered that the above provision is
unconstitutional.
According to this judgment, the above provision became ineffective as of April 30, 2009.
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