The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) assumes that 24 trademarks specifying place of origin shall be registered by the year end, which is thrice the 8 geographically specified trademarks registered in 2008.

Legal stipulations do not permit trademarking the names of places in Korea, rather if the mentioned region or area in the product or service contains the name of the place it had originated from, it shall be protected under geographical indication system similar to its protection under trademark system.

According to KIPO, dried mushrooms from Jangheung, South Jeolla Province, were registered in November 2006, with "Jangheung shiitake mushroom" the first geographically specified trademark.

Then on a total of 34 registrations under the geographical indication system have been made of which 10 were in 2007, 8 in 2008 and 15 until October this year. Following the Geographical Indication System a Korean rice wine brand "Pocheon Makgeoli," can be protected under this system although it was already trademarked in Japan by a Japanese company.

KIPO states that geographical indication system is an effective way to help peasants earn more while bracing local economies. If we take the example of dried persimmon manufacturers in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province we see a jump in sales by 23 percent from W87.1 billion (US$1=W1,182) to W106.8 billion since they registered the product as "Sangju Gotgam." The number of gotgam producers has increased 41 percent, and the amount of production 23 percent.

KIPO intends to raise awareness of the geographical indication system through the 30 regional intellectual property offices it has across the nation.

Source : Chosun (Korea)