Executive Summary
[Award] Excellence Prize at the IPTAB Case Law Research Paper Contest – Trademark Infringement Criteria Amid the Expansion of the Pre-owned Luxury “Remaking” Market
The Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB) holds the annual “Patent and Trademark Case Law Research Paper Contest” to promote creative analysis and interpretation of intellectual property case law and to broaden the research base in this field. The 2025 contest ran from April 21 to September 22, 2025, and, following evaluation by external experts and the review committee, the Excellence Prize was awarded to “Legal Principles and Policy Considerations in Conflicts Between Trademark Rights and Ownership: An Examination of the Exhaustion Doctrine and Consumers’ Right to Repair,” authored by Eun-a Ko, Manager, Trademark Team, AJU KIM CHANG LEE Patent Law Firm.
The award-winning paper is a case commentary on the Korean Patent Court’s October 28, 2024 judgment (Case No. 2023Na11283), addressing issues of significant practical relevance as the remaking and upcycling markets continue to expand. The case examined whether remaking activities—going beyond repair or minor modification of pre-owned luxury handbags bearing a trademark to include dismantling and cutting them and using the resulting materials to produce and supply new products such as other bags or wallets—constitute trademark infringement and result in liability for damages.
Drawing on prior scholarship and comparable overseas cases, the paper analyzes the key factors relevant when ownership rights and trademark rights collide and presents practical criteria for distinguishing “repair” from “reproduction (transformation),” while also discussing policy considerations regarding how to balance trademark protection with the development of the remaking(also called as “reform”) industry.
The winning paper has been published in the 2025 Collection of Outstanding Case Law Research Papers and is available on the IPTAB website (kipo.go.kr/ipt).