▲ This undated Yonhap file photo shows a local cosmetics store South Korea. (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- As K-beauty brands continue to expand into Japan amid growing concerns over intellectual property (IP) infringement, an online seminar was held to help companies protect their IP rights and establish a stable foothold in the Japanese market.

 

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Japan on Wednesday hosted the online "K-Beauty Companies' Intellectual Property Protection Seminar in Japan," where experts provided guidance on IP-related issues in the Japanese market.

 

K-beauty products have continued to gain traction in Japan.

 

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, South Korea's cosmetics exports to Japan reached US$580 million in the first half of this year, up 5.9 percent from a year earlier.

 

However, concerns have also grown over IP-related risks, including trademark squatting, design imitation and the online distribution of counterfeit products.

 

During the seminar, experts explained strategies for securing intellectual property rights when entering the Japanese market, key contractual considerations, and measures for protecting rights and responding to infringement on online platforms.

 

Yamazaki Yuki, a patent attorney at HARAKENZO World Patent & Trademark, stressed the need to combat counterfeit products in Japan's e-commerce market, saying companies should first understand how counterfeit goods are sold across different online platforms.

 

He also advised companies to adopt technical authentication measures, such as holograms or unique QR codes, to verify product authenticity while utilizing detection tools provided by online platforms to identify illegal listings at an early stage. Once counterfeit products are found, companies should report them through platform complaint channels based on their trademark rights to have the listings removed, he added.

 

Yamazaki emphasized that one of the most important considerations for K-beauty companies entering Japan is ensuring that trademark ownership remains with the Korean headquarters, rather than transferring it to local distributors through contractual arrangements.

 

Kobayashi Nao, a patent attorney at TMI Associates, warned that Korean beauty brands frequently face the risk of trademark squatting, in which local distributors, online sellers or malicious third parties register Korean trademarks in Japan before the original rights holders.

 

To prevent such cases, he said, companies should conduct prior trademark searches and file trademark and design applications before entering the Japanese market.

 

jwc@yna.co.kr

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