"Following the Ministry of Intellectual Property's strengthened crackdown on technology leaks and counterfeits"... Intellectual property infringement offenders up 32% in the first half of this year

[Financial News] As the crackdown on intellectual property infringement crimes has been strengthened, the number of criminals caught for technology leakage, theft, and the distribution of counterfeit goods has increased significantly.
The Ministry of Intellectual Property announced on the 3rd that it referred a total of 347 people to the Prosecution Service after conducting intensive investigations into intellectual property infringement crimes, such as technology leakage, theft, and counterfeit goods, during the first half of this year. This represents a 32% increase compared to the same period last year (262 people).
Last year, the Intellectual Property Office was upgraded from an existing agency to a ministry directly under the Prime Minister, marking its rebirth as a control tower overseeing pan-governmental intellectual property policies. Accordingly, it is strengthening cooperation with related agencies, including the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the Prosecution Service, and the National Police Agency, to accelerate the speed of initial response and increase the rate of preemptive prevention against serious crimes, such as the leakage of core national technologies.
By sector, the number of technology crime offenders referred to the Prosecution Service was 161, a 33% increase compared to the same period last year (121). In particular, design infringement offenders surged by 137% (27 to 64), recording the highest growth rate, while patent and utility model infringement offenders also increased by 16% (38 to 44).
In January, the Ministry of Intellectual Property, in cooperation with the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Prosecution Service, preemptively apprehended and arrested a foreign criminal who was attempting to leak national core technologies, such as all-solid-state battery development information, overseas. Subsequently, in February, after analyzing over 23,000 pages of investigation records related to eyewear copycat crimes, it achieved the result of arresting a suspect for the first time in a product form imitation case and seizing and preserving 7.8 billion won in criminal proceeds.
In investigations into counterfeit goods (trademark) crimes, 186 people were handed over to the Prosecution Service, a 32% increase compared to the same period last year (141 people). A total of 44,482 counterfeit goods were seized, amounting to 61.98 billion won in value based on the price of genuine products.
In particular, taking into account the surge in foreign tourists due to the K-culture craze, intensive crackdowns were carried out in major tourist commercial districts such as Myeong-dong, and in January, goods worth 18.2 billion won (3,702 items) were seized from sellers of counterfeit goods targeting tourists. In February and March, measures were also taken against the infringement of Hallyu content, such as detecting and seizing over 27,000 counterfeit goods of K-pop stars including BTS.
The number of intellectual property infringement crime cases reported in the first half of this year (based on the number of suspects) totaled 470, an increase of 21% compared to the same period last year (388), showing a continuous upward trend.
In particular, the number of suspects in cases involving the leakage and theft of technology, such as trade secrets, surged by 180% (from 15 to 42), and the number of suspects per case more than doubled from 1.7 to 3.5, proving that crimes are becoming more organized and sophisticated. In the case of counterfeit goods crimes, direct complaints filed by trademark owners surged by 200% (from 46 to 138 cases), highlighting the active response of rights holders.
"In preparation for a surge in cases, we expanded our investigative personnel and organization from 52 people in 2 divisions to 86 people in 5 divisions last June," said Jeong Yeon-woo, deputy head of the Ministry of Intellectual Property. "We will faithfully protect our companies' core technologies and products based on our specialized investigative capabilities."

[email protected] Kim Won-jun Reporter