CPI Asia Column edited by Vanessa Yanhua Zhang (Global Economics Group) present:
Recent trends in KFTC enforcement activities regarding IPRs By Kyoung Yeon Kim, Yulchon LLC
Korea’s antitrust authority has, especially in recent years, come to aggressively regulate the use of intellectual property rights (IPRs). One might guess this to be the case merely based on the fact that the Korea Fair Trade Commission (the “KFTC”) has come to be perceived as one of the more aggressive competition authorities in the world, having been very active in enforcing general competition law, overall, throughout approximately the last 40 years.[2] However, in fact, one can clearly perceive this reality if one examines the KFTC’s history of rulemaking, guidance, and investigative activities and enforcement actions related to IPRs.
I will first outline some of the major milestones in that history. Then, based on my understanding of past regulatory and enforcement activities, I will try to offer a few observations and questions as a practitioner directly and indirectly experienced in competition-law enforcement by the KFTC in relation to IPRs.
Brief Overview of the KFTC’s Past Rulemaking and Enforcement Activities
The Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (the “MRFTA”) has a provision, Article 59, that expressly addresses the application of antitrust law to IPRs. Article 59 currently reads: “This Act shall not apply to any act which is deemed the justifiable exercise of rights
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