Korean IP Infringement Jurisdiction Centralized at Five Korean District Courts and the Patent Court of Korea: Korean Intellectual Property Case Updates

Patent Infringement Case Jurisdiction in Korea

This month, the Korean National Assembly passed amendments to both the Korean Court Organization Act and the Civil Procedure Act to, inter alia, give exclusive jurisdiction, in Intellectual Property infringement matters, to five major district courts in Korea with an appeal from these five district courts going, now, to the Patent Court.

At present, an IP infringement cases may be brought at any district court with an appeal to a high court.  Appeals of IP Tribunal Cases were, only, allowed to the Patent Court.

These amendments shall be effective in any district court cases filed after December 31, 2015.

We expect to see this jurisdictional change to allow cases to progress in a more efficient matter, allow judges increased opportunities to specialize and lead to more consistency in the application of law.

Other articles that may be of interest:

• Korean Business/Service Marks Protection under the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act
• The Violation of Right of Publicity in Korea: Badminton Player Park Ju-Bong’s Case
• Definition of Defamation in Korea
• Censorship Prohibited in Korea: Korean Entertainment Law Cases
• Definition of Copyright in Korea: Ideas vs. Expressions: Korean Entertainment Law
• Definition of “Author” under Korean Copyright Act: Entertainment Law Cases in Korea 

Sean Hayes may be contacted at: [email protected]

Sean Hayes is co-chair of the Korea Practice Team at IPG Legal. He is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only two non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw.

Sean’s profile may be found at: Sean C. Hayes

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