The Korea Herald

Mattel builds on lifestyle brands with local partners

Barbie has been loved around the world for over half a century since 1959, and now she is more than just a perfectly figured doll that comes in various themes, professions and ethnicities.“Barbie is not a character brand; it is a fashion brand that has hundreds of licensees or partners that make Barbie perfumes, Barbie shoes, cosmetics, jewelry, laptops and even hair salons,” Claire Gilchrist, Mattel’s top executive of consumer products in the Asia Pacific region, said in an interview with The K

IndustryOct. 23, 2012

Mattel builds on lifestyle brands with local partners

Tobacco makers oppose new rules on social contribution

A silent but potent war is brewing between tobacco makers and the government over whether the companies should be permitted to contribute to social causes. In September, the Ministry of Health and Welfare signaled that it was time to end what they consider to be “promotion-oriented” contributions from cigarette companies by announcing a new legal revision. Under the new rule, companies, which had been permitted to sponsor sports-related campaigns for raising social awareness on significant issue

IndustryOct. 23, 2012

Tobacco makers oppose new rules on social contribution

Korea ranks 8th in business environment: World Bank

South Korea ranked eighth in terms of business environment this year partly thanks to its efforts to streamline regulations related to protecting investor rights and imposing taxes, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.The ranking by the World Bank was unchanged from the previous year and marked the second consecutive year South Korea was listed on the global top 10 list, according to the ministryThe Washington-based lender analyzed 185 countries’ business environments by breaking them down into 10

Oct. 23, 2012

Apple Korea chief Dominique Oh gets pink slip by email

Dominique Oh notified of leave with single e-mailDominique Oh, the head of Apple Korea, stepped down last week, a move staged against his will, according to multiple industry executives Tuesday.“He was told to leave his position as general manager through an e-mail,” said a top industry executive. “The news was a shocker. I don’t know who will want the job after this.”Oh’s ouster came as a surprise as the Cupertino-based IT behemoth is currently looking forward to releasing its latest iPhone 5 h

IndustryOct. 23, 2012

Apple Korea chief Dominique Oh gets pink slip by email

Cholesterol drug may cut cancer risk

Statins, a cholesterol lowering drug may lower the risk of esophageal cancer, especially in those with Barrett‘s esophagus, U.S. researchers say. Study author Siddharth Singh, a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist, said squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma are two main types of esophageal cancer.Barrett’s esophagus, a complication of gastroesophageal reflux disease, raises the risk of adenocarcinoma, the more common type of esophageal cancer. Barrett‘s esophagus is a precancerous condition in w

TechnologyOct. 23, 2012

FDA: 5 died after drinking Monster Energy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it found five people died in the past three years after downing the popular energy drink Monster Energy.The New York Times reported Monday the information does not prove a link between Monster Energy and the deaths or any health problems. The newspaper said the mother of a 14-year-old Maryland girl who died in December after drinking large cans of Monster Energy two days in a row obtained the FDA records recently under the Freedom of Information Act. Th

TechnologyOct. 23, 2012

Many Android apps said ‘leaking’ data

Millions of people using Android apps are at risk of having their personal data revealed, security researchers in Germany report. Researchers at the University of Leibniz and Philipps University of Marburg tested 13,500 popular apps in Google‘s Play store and found almost 8 percent failed to protect bank account and social media logins. The insecure apps failed to implement standard scrambling systems, researchers said, allowing “man-in-the-middle” attacks to spy on data passed along when

TechnologyOct. 23, 2012

Shy fish said to have better survival odds

Being shy or bold can be a matter of life or death for a trout, Canadian researchers say, with shyness being a better survival strategy.Fish respond to, and learn from threats, they said, and experiments show bold trout forget predator odor, and hence a potential predator threat, quicker than shy trout.As predators can be present in different locations and at different times, learning and retaining information about a predator threat, and being able to recall it at a later stage, is key to respo

TechnologyOct. 23, 2012

Study: Male beluga whale mimics human speech

It could be the muffled sound of singing in the shower or that sing-songy indecipherable voice from the Muppets' Swedish Chef.Surprisingly, scientists said the audio they captured was a whale imitating people. In fact, the whale song sounded so eerily human that divers initially thought it was a human voice.Handlers at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego heard mumbling in 1984 coming from a tank containing whales and dolphins that sounded like two people chatting far away.In a mor

TechnologyOct. 23, 2012

Study: Male beluga whale mimics human speech

EU retorts France's complaint over Korean automakers

The European Union (EU) has decided not to accept France's claim that its domestic auto market has been hit by a surge in imports of South Korean vehicles, Seoul's trade ministry said Tuesday.On Monday, the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, reviewed a request made in July by France, and decided not to put South Korean autos on a prior surveillance list. The move could trigger a safeguard measure against imports from South Korea in the worst-case scenario, according to the minist

IndustryOct. 23, 2012

Exports of military hardware to hit record high

The defense industry is projected to mark an all-time high in its weapon exports this year, according to the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.While the nation had mostly exported ammunition and components for weapons, it recently diversified products such as self-propelled artillery and submarines.Among the major export destinations are the United Kingdom, Peru and India, KIET said in a report.The defense-related orders from abroad rapidly increased over the past few years ― fr

IndustryOct. 22, 2012

Exports of military hardware to hit record high

Whiskey sales fall

Whiskey consumption has continued to drop in the local market amid the economic slowdown and many consumers’ reduced preference for strong alcohol.Sales of whiskey came to 517,912 boxes ― which contain 18 bottles, 0.5 liters each ― during the July-September period, down 13.4 percent over the same period last year, according to the local liquor industry.The slowing pace has become faster compared to the 10.1 percent slowing fall, posted during the first half of the year.Diageo Korea saw its sales

IndustryOct. 22, 2012

‘Double spy’ acquitted decades after execution

A Seoul court on Monday posthumously cleared a local man of espionage charges and apologized to his bereaved family a half century after he was executed for being a “double agent” for both Koreas.Shim Moon-kyu was sent to North Korea to carry out espionage activities in 1955, two years after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce. Shim, however, was detected by the North and trained for one year and seven months to become a North Korean spy. Upon returning home, Shim immediately turned himself

TechnologyOct. 22, 2012

AIPPI’s policy recommendations

One of the missions of AIPPI is to achieve the harmonization and improvement of intellectual property laws worldwide by conducting comparative legal research and formulating recommendations to entities charged with developing, interpreting or enforcing IP laws. These recommendations are referred to as the resolutions, which, because of the representative nature of the membership of AIPPI, and its working methods, are intended to be a truly worldwide answer to an intellectual property issue of cu

Oct. 22, 2012

Creations of the ‘beautiful mind’

“Creations of the beautiful mind.” No, I am not referring to a novel I read last week.It refers to the definition of intellectual property offered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO. “Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce.” In the midst of the infamous “intergalactic” ongoing battle between Samsung and Apple, we tend to think that intellectual property is someth

Oct. 22, 2012

AIPPI groups and meetings

On Saturday, about 2,000 IP specialists from throughout the world converged in Seoul for the 43rd Congress of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property.AIPPI has members from more than 100 countries, either grouped in national groups or regional groups. Where no group exists they are independent members. Each group welcomes IP specialists of the country or region (such as lawyers, patent and trademarks attorneys, members from industry, academics and judges) and an

Oct. 22, 2012

AIPPI considers ambitious revamp

The 43rd World Intellectual Property Congress of AIPPI is taking place in Seoul from Saturday until Tuesday, 2012. It is the first time in 20 years that the AIPPI Congress returns to Asia. In that interval of 20 years, the economies of Korea, Japan and China have all assumed positions as leading economies in the world. During the past 20 years, the AIPPI has reformed and modernized its working methods and meetings in an effort to maintain its leading role in the study, development and harmonizat

Oct. 22, 2012

IP experts discuss future patent system

Members of the 2012 APPI Intellectual Property Congress in Seoul started ramped up their learning curve on Sunday by sailing through a number of IP-related plenary sessions and workshops, following a warm-up period for the first two days. Attendees expressed their keen interest in the Korean legal system, in what is one of the fastest-moving IP protection markets in the world as a high-tech export-driven nation. In the afternoon, a plenary session opened up the topic of the future of the patent

Oct. 22, 2012

Insurance to be required for on-call chauffeur services

A bill has been submitted to the National Assembly to make insurance mandatory for on-call chauffeur service providers as an increasing number of accidents occur while these services are taking place for drunk drivers.About 23,000 car accidents involving on-call drivers were reported to insurance companies in 2010 and 22,000 cases last year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service and the insurance industry.These accidents fall under special contract categories for car insurance in which

Oct. 22, 2012

Electronic cigarette firms punished for false ad

Electronic cigarette manufacturers were punished and forced to make changes to their misleading advertisements, the nation’s antitrust watchdog said on Monday. The Fair Trade Commission said that electronic cigarette firms have falsely advertised that replacing regular cigarettes with electric cigarettes is effective in quitting smoking. Although the health-improving effect and safety of electric cigarettes have long been disputed, the public can easily conceive the wrong impression of electroni

IndustryOct. 22, 2012