Korea’s first design crime arrest, warning for product imitation
Copy the design by returning it after purchasing a new product
Show off your luxurious lifestyle on social media… Collection and preservation of crime proceeds
▲ Imitation product (left) and genuine product (right) sold by celebrity influencer A. A corporate organization led by a famous influencer at the Korean Intellectual Property Office was caught manufacturing and selling imitation products that copied the designs of new products from famous domestic and foreign brands, disguising them as their own products. About 20,000 imitation products were sold using this method, with a market value of 34.4 billion won.
On the 14th, the Korean Intellectual Property Office’s Technology and Design Special Judicial Police (Technical Police) and the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office arrested A, a fashion influencer and corporate representative, on charges of manufacturing and distributing imitations of clothing, shoes and precious metals of 58 famous domestic and foreign brands, including Chanel, Time and Ink. It was announced that Mr. (34, female) was arrested and the corporation and 7 executives and employees were arrested.
It was revealed that Mr. A worked as a fashion influencer on an internet portal blog with a cumulative number of visitors of 14 million, promoting products, attracting buyers, and then selling imitation products through a membership system. Moreover, in December 2021, they established a corporation to sell and distribute imitation products and then commercialized it by hiring employees. They manufactured imitation products by purchasing new products and then returning them, and carried out their crimes meticulously, including selling the imitation products with their own labels to avoid crackdowns. The manufacturing of imitation products was organized and distributed not only to domestic clothing, shoe, and jewelry manufacturing and wholesale companies, but also to overseas companies. ▲ An imitation product criminal organization led by famous influencer A. patent office
It was found that the imitation products manufactured and distributed by Mr. A and others for about 3 years from November 2020 were worth 34.4 billion won in real value, and they made 2.43 billion won in criminal profits. Mr. A, who made huge profits from crime, explained that he lived in a luxury villa in Gangnam, Seoul and showed off his luxurious lifestyle on social media, including owning several expensive supercars.
The technical police detained Mr. A, froze his financial accounts, seized real estate and bonds, and collected and preserved all of the proceeds of crime. This is the first time in Korea that criminal proceeds have been collected and a suspect arrested for violating the Design Protection Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, out of the 50 cases detected in the past 10 years (2012-2022), most of them were fines (39 cases) and probation (11 cases), so the punishment was low, so the collection of criminal proceeds is being strengthened to prevent recidivism.
Kim Si-hyung, director of the Industrial Property Protection and Cooperation Bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, “We plan to respond resolutely to intellectual property crimes that are becoming more sophisticated, and track the proceeds of crime to the end to fundamentally block the motive for crime.”
Saejong Reporter Park Seung-gi
2023-09-14 06:03:46
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