“Cool Enough Studio has supplied the hairbands to various cosmetics companies for promotional gifts. Dr. Jart+’s distribution of copied products not only violates my design rights, but also my future profits,” Hur told The Korea Herald.

Currently, Hur is holding a crowdsourced campaign to sue the alleged copiers for design right violation. “The pain of creation should be respected,” Hur said.

However, her claims have been met with a legal attack: L Pos, the manufacturer of the problematic hairband included in the Dr. Jart+ gift box, has filed for an annulment of Hur’s rights.

“There are many such hairbands that have been manufactured even before Hur filed for the rights in early 2015. This means that the hairband does not constitute the design rights from the first place. Even if her rights are valid, our product is far from being similar to Hur’s design,” said an L Pos chief, who declined to be named.

He admitted that the company had not researched whether his products could be similar to any other design with state-acknowledged rights. “But who does that?” he queried.

Kim Hyun-ho, a patent attorney for L Pos, stressed that the design rights are limited to a product’s appearance. “If you want to highlight the function, you need a patent. The wires inserted in both ends is the territory of a patent rather than design rights,” he said.

“About 70-80 percent of annulments are accepted at the moment. This shows how sloppily design rights are granted,” he said. According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office’s official records, the annulment rate acknowledged by the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board stands at 52.02 percent this year.

Have & Be, the operator of Dr. Jart+, said it has removed the problematic hairbands from Olive Young store shelves and online retailers. “We understand that design could be thought of in the realms of an art. But since the case is about the violation of a legal right, we are waiting for the validation suit result,” a Have & Be director told The Korea Herald.

The company, which recently made headlines for attracting investment from U.S.-based cosmetics giant The Estee Lauder Companies, revealed that all legal responsibilities for the dispute are shouldered by L Pos in accordance with their contract, despite that the problematic hairbands were distributed under the Dr. Jart+ brand.

“We will do our best to arrange meetings with L Pos and Cool Enough Studio. But we will not make any compensation to give in to the online campaign until the court ruling comes,” the director said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)