A legal comparative study between the investigatio n of unfair trade practices and the investigation of unfair competition

Each subparagraph of Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Unfair Trade I nvestigation Law stipulates the types of unfair trade practices that a re subject to investigation by the Korea Trade Commission(KTC). Th is includes domestic imports and exports of goods that infringe intel lectual property rights. Infringement of intellectual property rights u nder the Unfair Trade Investigation Act includes infringement of pat ent rights, utility model rights, design rights, trademark rights, copyr ights, and trade secrets, but excludes acts of unfair competition und er the Unfair Competition Law. Separate from the investigation under the Unfair Trade Investigatio n Law, the Unfair Competition Law operates an investigation system for unfair competition practices. It is necessary to compare this wit h the unfair trade practice investigation system of KTC and to study the validity and appropriateness of adding unfair competition practices to the scope of intellectual property infringement, which is the subject of investigation under the Unfair Trade Investigation Law. For this purpose, in this study, first, the investigation system unde r the Unfair Trade Investigation Law and the Unfair Competition La w was comparatively analyzed, and the operation status and current status of each system were investigated and analyzed. Next, by exa mining the current state of the unfair trade practice investigation sy stem and related laws in major overseas countries, we looked at cas es in which unfair competition is included in the target of unfair tr ade investigation abroad. Through this, the feasibility of adding unfa ir competition acts under the Unfair Competition Law to the scope of intellectual property infringement under the Unfair Trade Investig ation Law was legally reviewed, and related considerations were pres ented.