The Korean and Japanese Trade Marks Offices have recently decided to amend their legislation to allow letters of consent from existing trade mark owners to add more flexibility in the registration of trade marks. This decision can potentially streamline the trade mark registration process where a trade mark application may have similarities to an existing trade mark.
Traditionally, the Korean and Japanese Trade Marks Offices have taken a strict approach to trade mark registration, requiring that trade marks be completely unique to existing trade marks. This has meant in practice having to use convoluted tools such as the “assign back” approach as ways to overcome prior registered trade marks. Read more