FAQ

Because the most important function of a trademark is to distinguish one party's goods from another's, in order to be registered as a trademark it must first possess distinctiveness.

Under the Trademark Act, distinctiveness means enabling traders and general consumers to recognize whose goods the goods bearing the trademark are. In general, it is advisable to consider factors such as being easy to call, easy to remember, memorable over a long period, easy to distinguish from other trademarks, and useful for advertising and promotion.

A trademark may also consist of signs, characters, figures, three-dimensional shapes, or a combination thereof, as well as any of these combined with colors. Accordingly, you may file characters and a logo as separate trademarks, or you may combine characters and a logo and file them as a single trademark.

Pursuant to Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the Trademark Act, a trademark cannot be registered in the following cases.

1. a. A trademark consisting solely of a mark indicating, in a common way, the common name of the goods
   e.g., the trademark "CAR" for the designated goods "automobiles," the trademark "jeans" for the designated goods "clothing," etc.
2. b. A trademark customarily used in connection with the goods
   e.g., the trademark "Jeongjong" for the designated goods "cheongju (refined rice wine)," the trademark "Kkang" for the designated goods "snacks," etc.
3. c. A trademark consisting solely of a mark indicating, in a common way, the place of origin, quality, raw materials, efficacy, use, quantity, shape (including the shape of packaging), price, production method, processing method, method of use, or time of the goods
   e.g., the trademark "Geumsan" for the designated goods "ginseng," the trademark "quality assurance" for all goods, the trademark "bean" for the designated goods "tofu," etc.
4. d. A trademark consisting solely of a conspicuous geographical name, an abbreviation thereof, or a map
   e.g., the names of cities, counties, and districts; New York; Jongno Academy; Jangchung-dong Wang Jokbal, etc.
5. e. A trademark consisting solely of a mark indicating, in a common way, a common surname or name
   e.g., Yun's Farm House, trading company, store, industrial works, chairman, president, etc.
6. f. A trademark consisting solely of a simple and common mark
   e.g.,
   • In the case of a character mark, a mark composed of a single Hangul character or Chinese character, or two or fewer other foreign characters
   • A combination of two numerals, or a combination of one foreign character and one numeral
   • Commonly used marks such as circles, triangles, squares, rhombuses, symbols, or the swastika (卍), the triple Taegeuk, etc.
   • Common marks such as spheres, cubes, rectangular prisms, cylinders, triangular prisms, etc.
7. g. In addition to items 1 through 6, a trademark by which consumers cannot identify whose business the goods are connected with
   e.g., http://, www, @, "CYBER" for the telecommunications business, "NEWS" for the data provision business, etc.

For a trademark registration application, you must designate one or two or more goods on which the trademark will be used within the classification of goods prescribed by the ordinance of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, and file an application for each trademark. This is called the one-application-per-trademark principle, which means that filing two or more trademarks simultaneously in a single application is not permitted. To file two or more trademarks, you must submit a separate trademark registration application for each (Article 10 of the Trademark Act). The one-application-per-trademark principle is a basic principle that applies to new trademark registration applications, applications for additional registration of designated goods, and applications for renewal registration of the term of a trademark right.

Under the "1997 amended Trademark Act," effective March 1, 1998, the one-trademark/one-class/one-application system was abolished and the one-trademark/multi-class/one-application system was adopted. As a result, while an application is still filed for each trademark, it became possible to file an application designating both goods and services at the same time.

Based on the filing date of a trademark, only the person who files first can obtain the trademark registration. Article 8, Paragraph 1 of the Trademark Act provides that "where there are two or more applicants for trademark registration on different dates with respect to identical or similar trademarks to be used on identical or similar goods, only the person who files first may obtain trademark registration for that trademark" (Article 8, Paragraph 1 of the Trademark Act).

Only a priority claim based on a treaty may be made.
The treaty-based priority system under the Trademark Act (Article 20 of the Trademark Act) is a system under which, where a national of a State party that grants a priority right with respect to trademark registration applications in Korea by treaty files a trademark registration application (hereinafter the "prior application") in that State party or another country (the first country) and then files an application for registration of the same trademark in Korea (the second country) (hereinafter the "subsequent application") and claims priority, the point in time for applying certain provisions of the Trademark Act (Article 8, first-to-file principle) to the subsequent application is deemed to be the filing date of the prior application; this principle also applies in the same way where a Korean national files a prior application in one of the above treaty States party and files a subsequent application for the same trademark in Korea and claims priority (Article 20, Paragraph 1 of the Trademark Act).

A person who wishes to claim priority cannot do so unless the application is filed within 6 months from the filing date of the first application that forms the basis of the priority claim, and a person who wishes to claim priority must, when filing the trademark registration application, state in the trademark registration application form the purport thereof as well as the name of the country in which the first application was filed and the date of that application.

A person who has claimed priority must submit to the Commissioner of KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office), within 3 months from the filing date of the trademark registration application, a document stating the date of the trademark registration application as recognized by the government of the country in which the first application was filed, together with a certified copy of the trademark and the designated goods; if the above documents are not submitted within the period, the priority claim loses its effect.

For a paper application, the fee is 66,000 KRW per goods classification, and for an online application, it is 56,000 KRW per goods classification.
In addition, for an application to renew the registration of the term of validity, the fee is the same as the new application fee, and during the late-payment period for renewing the registration of the term of validity, the fee is 95,000 KRW per goods classification for a paper application (online : 85,000 KRW) (Article 5 of the Regulations on the Collection of Patent Fees, etc.).
※ For details on the fees, please refer to "Fee Information" on the main screen of the KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office) website.