Korean or Chinese? Copycat dollar stores face intellectual property crackdown from South Korea

Foreign stores are using Korean or Japanese characters on their packaging to disguise their origins

As authorities crack down, some stores are looking at other overseas markets

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Several Chinese copycat store chains pretend to be Korean or Japanese. Authorities in South Korea are cracking down on them. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:15am, 20 Oct 2019Updated: 7:30pm, 21 Oct 2019

Lifestyle dollar store Mumuso may have satisfying discounts for everyday goods, but it also has consumers across Asia scratching their heads. If Google auto complete queries alone are anything to go by, everyone is asking the same question: is it really a Korean retailer, or is it actually Chinese?

Mumuso and its low-priced counterparts Ilahui and Yoyoso have become popular across Southeast Asia for selling cheap personal care goods, beauty products and homewares in brightly lit, minimalist stores. All three are, in fact, Chinese, but the confusion is understandable – these Chinese companies splash Korean lettering and imagery across their product packaging and retail spaces. The in-store experience is set to a K-pop soundtrack, lulling shoppers further into the illusion that they’re buying products made in Korea.

South Korean authorities are cracking down, exasperated by what they see as copycat foreign brands trying to ride on the coattails of made-in-Korea success stories such as Innisfree. The Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the Daejeon District Prosecutor’s Office announced on September 26 that a court had ordered Mumuso and Ilahui to close their offices in South Korea.

This was the culmination of an investigation which had seen KIPO and the prosecutor’s office seek information from six Korean cosmetics brands and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra), a network of trade offices that has intellectual property specialists in 15 locations in eight countries.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Korea is not the only country receiving the dubious compliment. Stores such as Miniso and Usupso follow Mumuso’s model of selling lifestyle and home goods at affordable prices, but their marketing speaks a different language, namely Japanese.

Korean or Chinese? Copycat dollar stores face intellectual property crackdown from South Korea

Foreign stores are using Korean or Japanese characters on their packaging to disguise their origins As authorities crack down, some stores are looking at other overseas markets

Foreign stores are using Korean or Japanese characters on their packaging to disguise their origins

As authorities crack down, some stores are looking at other overseas markets