An amendment to the Design Protection Act (the "Amendment") was promulgated on June 10, 2022, removing the requirement that a criminal complaint be filed in order for an infringer to be indicted under the Design Protection Act. The Amendment went into effect immediately and applies to all infringements occurring after the effective date.

Prior to the Amendment, a victim of design infringement was required to file a complaint within six months of becoming aware of the infringement in order to initiate criminal proceedings against the infringer. Without the filing of a complaint, the investigative authorities have generally not investigated suspected violations of design rights, since the infringer could not be indicted and punished in the absence of a complaint. As a result, despite the increase in the online distribution of knock-offs and imitation goods since the outbreak of COVID-19, few investigations and raids have been conducted based on design rights infringements in Korea.

The amended Design Protection Act now allows criminal penalties to be pursued against infringers whether or not a complaint is filed by an injured party, as long as the injured party does not expressly object to such criminal prosecution. The design registration owner may still choose to resolve the dispute outside the criminal process, for example by bringing a civil action seeking an injunction and/or damages.

As the authorities may now initiate investigations ex officio where infringement of a design right is suspected, the Amendment is expected to facilitate increased enforcement of design rights and more effective protection of design rights holders in Korea, and to result in an increase in the number of criminal investigations of design infringements.

As the Amendment follows similar recent amendments to the Utility Model Act and the Patent Act, no criminal complaint is required for authorities to initiate criminal proceedings to investigate any industrial property rights offences in Korea, including patent, utility model, trademark or design infringement. 

To take advantage of potential expanded criminal enforcement of designs in Korea, rights to valuable designs should be secured by the rights owners as soon as possible.