Ministry of Intellectual Property uncovers 597 cases of false patent labeling on health foods; expired patents most common

[Financial News] Nearly 600 cases of health foods sold on online platforms falsely listing expired patents or rejected rights have been uncovered.
 The Ministry of Intellectual Property said on the 11th that it had uncovered a total of 597 cases of false labeling after examining intellectual property rights claims on 10,000 health food listings posted on seven online platforms from August 24 to September 14. The unfair advertising practice exploits consumers’ greater reliance on intellectual property claims in online transactions, where they have difficulty checking products in person.
 The investigation found that false patent claims accounted for the vast majority of cases, at 562 (94.1%), followed by 35 cases of false trademark claims (5.9%). The most common type of false labeling involved presenting rights that had already expired as if they were still valid, accounting for 534 cases (89.4%). This was followed by labeling products whose patent applications had been rejected as having intellectual property rights (35 cases, 5.9%); displaying numbers belonging to other products unrelated to the products in question (19 cases, 3.2%); and presenting pending applications as if they had been registered (9 cases, 1.5%).
 By product type, “health functional foods” accounted for 292 cases (48.9%), nearly half, while 213 cases (35.7%) involved “other processed foods,” a category of general food products. The Ministry of Intellectual Property believes that deceptive practices exploiting intellectual property rights to exaggerate product efficacy are widespread in the health food market, where it is difficult to differentiate products. It has provided the sellers identified with guidance on proper labeling and completed corrective measures, and plans to build a system to prevent repeat violations by recording past violations in a database (DB).
 There are also calls to go beyond the Ministry of Intellectual Property’s administrative guidance and corrective measures and strengthen online platform operators’ responsibility for managing sellers on their services, including online marketplaces. Since most cases of false labeling are currently detected through monitoring and enforcement and dealt with afterward, introducing systems that automatically verify the validity of intellectual property numbers in real time when products are listed on platforms is urgent. There are also growing calls to expand real-time monitoring to one-off false marketing conducted in enforcement blind spots, including social commerce, live commerce and group buying on social media.
 Kim Yong-hun, head of the Intellectual Property Protection and Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Intellectual Property, said, “False claims about intellectual property rights give consumers inaccurate information, hinder sound purchasing decisions, and undermine fair and transparent trade. We will step up investigations and work to establish a culture of proper labeling so consumers can make sound purchasing decisions based on accurate product information.”
[email protected] Kim Won-jun Reporter