Lee International

The KIPO announced that the “Intellectual Property Crime Investigation Support Division” has been established as a specialized entity within the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency to support investigations of intellectual property (IP) related crimes, which are conducted by the Special Judicial Police (SJP) within KIPO. In particular, this newly established division will focus on supporting electronic forensics (digital forensics) investigations. Through a systematic collaboration between this division and the SJP, KIPO aims to strengthen its investigative capabilities for IP crimes.

The SJP was established in 2010 with authority to conduct criminal investigations in connection with trademark infringement. A March 2019 amendment expanded the scope of the SJP’s authority to include investigations of patent infringement, design infringement and trade secret misappropriation. Over the course of 13 years, spanning from 2010 to 2022, the SJP played a pivotal role in combatting IP infringement and counterfeit products, resulting in the identification, apprehension and subsequent criminal prosecution of approximately 6,000 offenders and the confiscation of a staggering 12.58 million counterfeit goods.

However, despite these endeavors, IP infringement and counterfeits have adopted more sophisticated and shrewd tactics, primarily propelled by technological advancements. Consequently, relying solely on the existing manpower and equipment of the SJP has progressively posed greater challenges to effective investigations. In particular, although there has been a significant surge in demand for digital forensic investigations, there was only one single expert within the SJP capable of conducting digital forensic investigations, so it was inadequate in addressing this escalating need.

The newly established division will furnish equipment essential for digital forensic data collection to the SJP. It will also offer aid in endeavors such as data recovery of deleted sources and decryption. As a result, it is expected that KIPO's investigative capabilities for IP crimes can be further strengthened.