Under Art. 8, Para. 1 of the Korean Trademark Act, where two or more applications for trademark registration related to identical or similar trademarks that are to be used on identical or similar goods are filed on different dates, only the applicant filing the application with the earlier filing date can obtain the registration for the trademark.
In this case, a temporal criterion to determine the similarity of trademarks and goods takes place at the time when a trademark is examined by examiner. And thus, in case a prior-filed trademark application is finally rejected or a prior-filed and registered trademark right expires at the time when the latter trademark application is examined by examiner, the latter trademark can be registered since the prior-filed trademark application is not regarded as being effective at the time of examining the latter trademark application.
But under Art. 7, Para. 1, Item 7 of the Korean Trademark Act, a trademark that is identical or similar to another person's prior-registered trademark and used to be on identical or similar to the designated goods of the prior-registered trademark, cannot be registered.
In this case, a temporal criterion to determine the similarity of trademarks and goods takes place at the time of filing a trademark application. And thus, even if a prior-registered trademark right expires after a trademark application identical or similar to the prior-registered trademark is filed, the filed trademark cannot be registered since the prior-registered trademark right is regarded as being effective at the time of filing the latter trademark application.
