Korea’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that refashioning luxury handbags at a customer’s request for personal use does not constitute trademark infringement, overturning lower court rulings in a case brought by Louis Vuitton against a local repair shop. The Supreme Court’s Second Division sent the case back to the Patent Court, finding that modifying a branded product for personal use does not amount to “use of a trademark” under Korean law if the refashioned item is not distributed commercially. The case involved a repair shop operator in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district who altered customers’ worn Louis Vuitton bags into smaller bags and wallets between 2017 and 2021. The operator charged between 100,000 won ($70) and 700,000 won per item, earning a total of 23.8 million won. Louis Vuitton filed a lawsuit in February 2022, arguing that in the course of producing items bearing the Louis Vuitton mark, the operator had undermined the trademark’s functions, including its role in indicating the source of the goods and guaranteeing quality. The operator countered that the work
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