Overview
Key ServicesView All
Administrative Trial
- Trial for Invalidation (patent/utility model/design/trademark)
- Trial to Confirm the Scope of Rights (patent/utility model/design/trademark)
- Trial to Invalidate Corrections/Amendments (patent/utility model)
- Trial to Invalidate Trademark Registration (trademark)
- Trial to Revoke Registration of Exclusive License or Non-Exclusive License (trademark)
- Trial to Invalidate Registration for Extension of Patent (patent)
- Trial to Invalidate Registration to Renew Duration of Trademark Rights (trademark)
- Trial to Invalidate Registration of Conversion of Classification of Goods (trademark)
- Trial for Grant of Non-Exclusive License (patent/utility model/design)
- Appeals against Examiner Decisions
- Appeal against Examiner Decision to Reject (patent/utility model/design/trademark)
- Appeal against Examiner Decision to Cancel (design) - Appeal for Correction (patent/utility model)
- Appeal against Examiner Decision to Dismiss Amendment (design/trademark)
Patent Cancellation Actions
- Patent Cancellation Actions (patent)
Petitions for Retrial
- Petitions for Retrial (patent/utility model/design/trademark)
Patent Court Revocation Trial
- Patent Court Revocation Trial (patent/utility model/design/trademark)
Key ExperiencesView All
Patents/Utility Models
- Successfully defended pharmaceutical client's patent against invalidation actions filed by generic companies, resulting in a landmark Supreme Court decision that substantially relaxed the inventiveness standard for selection inventions (i.e., inventions claiming species of a genus in the prior art) and led to the revision of KIPO’s patent examination guidelines
- Overturned the previous invalidation of client's leak sensor patent in a Supreme Court decision that narrowed the scope of res judicata of prior IPTAB cases, thereby lowering the hurdle for filing additional invalidation actions based on new prior art
- Successfully defended pharmaceutical client in a scope confirmation action filed by generic companies in a historic IPTAB decision that expanded the scope of protection for use of pharmaceutical invention during the patent term extension
- Successfully defended a client before the Patent Court, overturning the IPTAB's decision by holding that clinical trial protocols with no clinical trial data cannot be used as invalidating prior art, thereby expanding patent protection for new medicinal use inventions
- Successfully defended client's patent in the first Korean case to examine whether a pharmaceutical compound patent covers generic prodrugs in which the Patent Court expanded protection against generic companies' design-around attempts
- Successfully defended the Korean entity of a global technology company against an patentee's claims that the company's messaging application infringed its translation services patent, prevailing at trial and appeals up to the Supreme Court while preventing disclosure of source code or other trade secrets of a global technology company
- Successfully defended the validity of client's patent for a sustained release pharmaceutical composition in the Supreme Court and prevailed in a subsequent infringement lawsuit against a competitor, which led to the competitor withdrawing the infringing product globally
Trademark/designs
- Successfully invalidated "BONOTOX" trademarks in the Supreme Court by arguing the likelihood of consumer confusion with the famous "BOTOX" trademark, despite genericide arguments
- Prevailed in a landmark Supreme Court case that applied the “catch-all” provision of the UCPA, finding that sales of bags similar in shape with Hermès' Kelly and Birkin bags constitute an act of unfair competition
- Invalidated trademarks imitating a trademark with a foreign language element and obtained infringement decisions from the Supreme Court, on the basis that such trademark can still function as a source identifier among Korean consumers
- Successfully obtained an unfair competition ruling from the Supreme Court on behalf of a national restaurant chain based on Article 2.1(j) of the UCPA, which prohibits misappropriation of another's ideas conveyed during business negotiations/transactions without authorization
- Successfully represented a global cosmetics brand in a Patent Court case to invalidate an imitation trademark ("PITERA LASER") by demonstrating the fame of client's mark ("PITERA") despite the differences in the compared products and services
- Successfully defended against a trademark infringement claim in the Patent Court, which held that the use of the name NOVAK on sports shoes based on a collaboration contract with an athlete is not a trademark use and thus does not constitute infringement
- Invalidated black-and-white imitation trademarks that have been in use for decades, after the registrant of the imitation trademarks started using the red and blue color scheme similar to Champion's famous logos
- Successfully defended a national health food brand against trademark infringement claims by demonstrating lack of consumer confusion due to the overall dissimilarity between the compared Korean marks
- Successfully represented Hermès against an atelier offering classes on how to manufacture imitations of Kelly and Birkin bags, obtaining a ruling that such acts constitute unfair competition
- Successfully invalidated design registrations that copied the client's famous footwear designs in the IPTAB, based on a finding that the differences between the compared designs pertain to portions lacking creativity
Professionals
Key Contacts
Insights
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Newsletters
Notable Changes to the Enforcement Rules of the Korean Patent Act and IPTAB Practice
2025.01.24 -
Newsletters
IP Newsletter (2023 Issue 3)
2023.10.19 -
Newsletters
Changes to the IPTAB Proceedings to Allow Third Party Participation and Promote Efficiency
2023.10.19 -
Newsletters
IP Newsletter (2023 Issue 2)
2023.07.20 -
Newsletters
First Successful Outcome for Originator in Patent Dispute Related to Gene and Cell Therapy in Korea
2023.07.20 -
Newsletters
Korean Courts Confirm That a Compound Patent Covers Prodrugs of the Compound Even During PTE
2023.07.20
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