해외 품종명칭의 상표 선점 문제에 따른 상표법 제도 개선 방안

This study examines the institutional conflicts between the Trademark Act and the Plant Variety Protection Act, focusing on the phenomenon in which foreign-bred variety denominations are preemptively registered as trademarks in Korea. The current Korean Trademark Act treats only domestically registered variety denominations as grounds for refusal, revealing a structural limitation in addressing conflicts involving foreign variety names. This issue is evident in actual cases where foreign variety denominations such as “Ruby Roman” and “King of Brabant” have been exclusively registered as trademarks in Korea. Major jurisdictions regard variety denominations as public assets and strongly restrict their monopolization through trademarks; in particular, the United States and the European Union consider variety denominations to be generic names and therefore generally ineligible for trademark registration. Based on this comparative analysis, this study proposes several improvements to the Korean system: first, expanding trademark refusal grounds to include foreign-registered variety names; second, clarifying examination standards and ensuring consistency with international norms; third, introducing a pre-examination system to identify conflicts between trademarks and variety denominations; and fourth, establishing inter-agency information-sharing mechanisms and an integrated examination framework. This research is expected to serve as foundational material for enhancing transparency in seed distribution and strengthening agricultural competitiveness.