Counterfeit
The 11-trillion-won counterfeit market abroad: now the government is taking direct action
💡 In this article, you can find the following information.
The 11 trillion won overseas counterfeit market: Why companies can no longer handle it alone
"Now the government fights on your behalf".. A 9.5 billion won pan-government counterfeit blocking network
Reatrics' 'real-time evidence data' completing government legal sanctions
[Recommended related support project] The first step to receiving government protection: 'K-Brand Overseas Rights Acquisition' support project (Deadline: ~4/24)
A strong shield for our brand, Reatrics runs together with the government
The 11 Trillion Won Overseas Counterfeit Market: Why Corporations Can No Longer Handle It Alone
As the status of K-brands rises globally, the issue of distributing imitated counterfeit products overseas has also reached a serious level. According to an OECD announcement in 2024, the scale of overseas counterfeit distribution within the global market is estimated at approximately 11 trillion won, which is becoming a key factor causing national economic blow beyond simple intellectual property rights infringement. Looking at the specific status of damage, all-round losses are occurring, such as a decrease in domestic corporate sales of approximately 7 trillion won, a government tax revenue loss of 1.8 trillion won, and the evaporation of approximately 14,000 jobs. In particular, damage from counterfeits is concentrated on high-value-added industry groups such as home appliances and electronic telecommunications (7 trillion won) and automobiles and motorcycles (2.8 trillion won), raising concerns about a long-term decline in brand credibility.
Increasingly Intelligent Counterfeit Distribution Methods and the Limits of Individual Response
In the past, many companies independently set out to detect and respond to counterfeits to protect their brand value, but the technical limitations were too great to directly identify the extensive distribution channels online. Especially recently, with the spread of independent shopping malls (D2C) utilizing Shopify or Cafe24, intelligent sellers are repeatedly creating and closing thousands of malls to evade crackdowns. In addition to social commerce like Instagram and TikTok, closed channels that are not caught by search engines, such as Telegram and WeChat, are also being utilized for counterfeit distribution.
In the end, working-level staff bump into a wall of different languages, search algorithms, and sellers' own slang used by tens of thousands of channels worldwide. Because the fragmentation of channels is too severe for humans to constantly monitor tens of thousands of channels and search for keywords one by one to respond, even companies with sufficient manpower find a complete enumeration survey virtually close to impossible.
Even if they manage to understand the distribution status and request crackdowns from local authorities, the investigations are often conducted passively, failing to yield practical results. Also, even if they win after a long legal battle, the compensation amount is less than the attorney fees, repeating a situation where there is no economic benefit. It continues to be a situation where the tail wags the dog.
In fact, Cosmetic export company A confirmed the distribution of counterfeits overseas and requested an investigation from local authorities, but due to an uncooperative attitude, they have not obtained results for two years. Food company B also faced a frustrating situation where, despite winning an infringement lawsuit, the ruled compensation amount (47 million won) did not even cover the cost of hiring a local attorney (60 million won). Tracking overseas counterfeits directly and continuing legal battles like this as an individual enterprise is a very lonely and difficult fight, and the burden in terms of cost and time is extremely heavy.
Accordingly, the measure designed to share the weight of the response that companies used to bear alone with the state, and to back up practical legal executive power, is precisely the 'K-Brand Government Certification System'.
”Now the State Will Fight on Your Behalf”.. A Pan-Government Counterfeit Blocking Network with 9.5 Billion Invested
The core of the 'K-Brand Government Certification System' announced by the Intellectual Property Office is that the role of the government has changed from 'indirect support' to 'direct response'. Beyond simple administrative support, the core is that the government itself has come to possess the status of a 'trademark holder (right holder)'. This system operates as a 'national guarantee system' where the Korean government directly registers certified trademarks in 70 countries overseas with a high risk of counterfeit product distribution and urges strong legal enforcement from local authorities when counterfeits are caught. Unlike the existing method where companies individually requested crackdowns, the system has now changed into a structure where the government directly pressures local authorities, saying, "Investigate immediately as you have infringed on a trademark owned by the state."
Domestic companies can voluntarily attach the certification trademark to their products, utilizing it as a marketing tool to increase brand reliability, and at the same time, using it as a basis for receiving direct protection from the state when counterfeits are distributed. This is interpreted as a determination to break through the uncooperative attitude and physical limitations that individual companies experienced while dealing with overseas legal systems and investigative agencies with the public credibility of the state.
Responding to Overseas Counterfeits Caught with Technology and Solved through Pan-Government Collaboration
To increase the effectiveness of this system, the government invested a budget of 9.5 billion won to establish an advanced genuine certification infrastructure. Beyond simply attaching a government certification mark, the latest technologies such as QR codes and AI watermarks are applied to trademarks. Through this, consumers can determine whether a product is genuine in just 1 second by scanning with a smartphone, and all data generated during the determination process is linked with the government's real-time monitoring system. In other words, an intelligent monitoring system is being prepared that can identify where counterfeit distribution is attempted around the world through real-time data and respond preemptively.
Particularly anticipated is the enforcement power after counterfeits are caught. As soon as the distribution of counterfeit goods is captured, a pan-government response team cooperating with 8 related ministries, centered on the Intellectual Property Office, and including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korea Customs Service, and the Ministry of Justice, will be activated. In addition to strongly urging local authorities to crack down through diplomatic and trade channels, blocking measures across the entire distribution process, such as immediately requesting suspension of customs clearance and withholding of release in connection with customs, will take place. The intention is to solve the worries of companies that have struggled with slow investigations and excessive legal costs through a pan-government level response. This is expected to drastically reduce the burden of time and enormous costs that companies have borne alone, while becoming an intellectual property protection network where the state, as a subject of rights, links real-time monitoring with immediate administrative action.
Reatrics' 'Real-time Evidence Data' Completing the Government's Legal Sanctions
The Intellectual Property Office announced that it plans to quickly complete the development and domestic/overseas applications of the national certified trademark related to the system and apply it in earnest to products exported by companies starting from the second half of the year. Although concrete application requirements have not been confirmed yet, considering the typical brand protection support system, the most important point is expected to be the 'effectiveness of utilizing the system'. This is because, as much as the step of acquiring national certification, the key is how quickly counterfeit products can actually be expelled from overseas platforms and draw administrative measures based on the secured certification.
Complete Enumeration Data on Counterfeit Distribution Secured with 24-Hour Automatic Monitoring
Reatrics plays a key role in helping the government system to be implemented in the future lead to actual brand protection achievements by automating the complex evidence collection process that was conducted manually. With AI-based real-time price and image monitoring, we conduct a complete enumeration survey of distribution channels, and utilize advanced NLP (Natural Language Processing) and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technologies to thoroughly extract signs of violation hidden in the text and images within detail pages.
The data collected in this way is compared with the brand's official master DB and calculated as an objective Similarity Score, which becomes powerful physical evidence to prove the irregular activities of sellers attempting to avoid the platform's surveillance network. While the existing method remained a post-action measure where consumers realized the damage only after purchasing counterfeits, Reatrics focuses on capturing signs of distribution in advance through a 24-hour monitoring system and preemptively blocking the spread of counterfeits.
As a result, the real-time data secured by Reatrics becomes decisive supporting evidence to increase the effectiveness of crackdowns when a pan-government response begins. The solution performs the consuming work where a brand manager had to compare numerous pages one by one instead, and companies can more actively utilize the government support system based on the objective data verified by Reatrics. When Reatrics' counterfeit detection technology is combined with the government's strong legal sanction rights, a 'three-dimensional defense system' that thoroughly protects our brand is finally realized.
[Recommended Support Program] The First Step to Receiving Government Protection: 'K-Brand Overseas Rights Acquisition' Support Program (Deadline: ~4/24)
The powerful crackdown support through the Intellectual Property Office's 'National Certified Trademark' system examined earlier, and Reatrics' precise AI detection, ultimately gain power only when our brand's 'trademark rights' are registered locally. This is because no matter how perfectly we understand the status of counterfeit distribution, if we do not have unique rights to our brand name, there is insufficient basis for the government to fight on our behalf.
However, from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it is practically not easy to bear all the costs of securing rights in multiple countries from the early stages of entering overseas markets. Accordingly, ahead of activating the full-scale crackdown system in the second half of the year, the Intellectual Property Office is conducting the [2026 Intellectual Property Rights Creation 『K-Brand Overseas Rights Acquisition Support』 Program] so that domestic companies can lay the foundation for defense.
This program targets SMEs in the cosmetics, fashion, and design sectors located in Seoul and supports the costs of securing trademark and design rights for companies in the early stages of entering overseas markets. In detail, up to 2.45 million won per trademark and up to 2.8 million won per design are possible, and practical budget benefits can be enjoyed within the range of up to 5 million won per company. As the application deadline is Friday, April 24, 2026, at 15:00, we highly recommend that companies wishing to utilize the 'K-Brand Certification System' 100% in the second half of the year preemptively establish a legal shield through this opportunity.
The First Step to Setting Up a Legal Shield: 3-Step Guide to Global Brand Protection
Consequently, brand protection is completed with the following 3-step strategy.
Securing Rights: Preempt local trademark and design rights through the 'Overseas Rights Acquisition Support Program'.
Granting Public Credibility: Obtain the 'K-Brand Certification' in the second half of the year based on the secured rights to be incorporated into the national guarantee system.
Constant Defense: Collect right infringement data in real-time with Reatrics' AI monitoring and respond immediately by borrowing the administrative power of the government.
No matter how excellent a crackdown system is, you cannot be protected without legal rights. If you lay the foundation for defense through this support program and then add technical infrastructure, you will be able to achieve sustainable growth of your brand beyond counterfeit damage.
A Reliable Shield for Our Brand, Reatrics Runs with the Government
For brand working-level staff who have been suffering in silence over overseas counterfeit issues, worrying about "When will we check this vast market?" or "What do we do when attorney fees cost more even if we catch them?", the government's 'K-Brand Certification System' introduced today will be very welcome news. This is because an era is opening where the state directly steps forward to urge local authorities to investigate and block customs clearance.
Reatrics aims to be the smartest partner to help these powerful protection measures of the government lead to actual effects for our brand. Beyond simply finding counterfeits, we will maximize the effectiveness of brand protection as a national brand protection infrastructure that safeguards the intellectual property of our companies in line with the government's protective stance. The objective data extracted with Reatrics' AI detection technology will be the most powerful supporting evidence to help the government's administrative power be deployed in the right places.
Secure overseas trademark rights with this 'K-Brand Overseas Rights Acquisition Support Program' (deadline ~4/24), prepare for the government certification system to be introduced in the second half of the year, and complete a constant defense system with the Reatrics solution. Reatrics will stay by your side 24 hours a day so that our brand can be proudly recognized for its true value in the global market.
Diagnose the current distribution status of our brand right now through a free demo. From extracting clear evidence data to efficient counterfeit crackdowns, Reatrics will guide you on the most secure journey for brand protection.