Musinsa launches IP rights body to clamp down on fake goods

[Courtesy of Musinsa]

South Korea’s top fashion platform Musinsa Co. is taking full-fledged action to protect its partner brands that struggle with fake goods in the open marketplace.

Musinsa announced Thursday that it set up an intellectual property (IP) rights protection committee under its wing to oversee the prevention of design thefts and mediation of disputes for its registered brands.

The company held a meeting on Wednesday to kick off the committee at Musinsa Campus N1 in Seoul. The committee is an independent organization under Musinsa that deliberates and decides whether fashion brand products listed on the Musinsa online store possess or infringe IP rights.

It is the first time that a platform has created its own independent body to protect IP rights. Most of the open marketplaces such as Naver Corp., Coupang Inc., Eleven Street Co., and Gmarket Inc. only accept reports on IP infringements and do not take proactive actions to resolve relevant disputes.

Since joining as full member of the Korea Brand Fashion Association, an organization of small and emerging Korean designer brands, in February, Musinsa has been intent on addressing issues related to IP infringements in the fashion industry.

The need arises as counterfeits of Korean designer brand products surged on the recent craze among young consumers over Korean designer brands, which are less regulated compared with overseas luxury goods.

Following the association’s “FAKE NEVER” campaign to root out counterfeits, the Korea Fair Trade Commission and the Korean Intellectual Property Office said they will introduce regulations to prevent illegal transactions in the open marketplace.

However, with no concrete legislation or measures adopted yet, Musinsa came to establish its own body to take matters under its own hands.

Musinsa plans to start by fairly resolving IP issues related to the brands registered with the Musinsa store. The idea is to ensure that at least its registered brands need not worry about infringements of their IP rights even if issues at other open marketplaces or platforms cannot be tackled.

The IP rights committee can review, deliberate, and deliver opinions when a registered brand is involved in an infringement of or damage to IP rights such as trademarks and copyrights.

The committee‘s opinions can be used to convey Musinsa’s position on whether or not IP rights have been violated. It is also responsible for arranging arbitration in the event of a dispute between sellers regarding IP rights.

The committee is composed of four members, all of whom are outsiders, to ensure their neutrality and expertise. One of the founding members appointed is Attorney Lee Jae-kyung, a professor of College of Sang-Huh Life Science at Konkuk University.