Korean Patent Court's Intellectual Property Infringement Guidelines

Early in 2016, the Patent Court of Korea published Guidelines Regarding the Appeals of IP Infringement Actions (“IP Appeal Guidelines”) based on the reality that the Patent Court of Korea has assumed control over appeals of Korean IP infringement lawsuits.

Overall, Korean legal practitioners welcomed the focus of the Korean Patent Court on increasing professionalism while developing an efficient procedure in disposing of cases. Significant developments, at the Patent Court, are ongoing and we shall update the reader on the Korea’s Patent Court’s jurisprudence over the next couple of months.

The main focus of the IP Appeal Guidelines, inter alia, is to detail specific appeal deadlines, hearing procedures, discovery procedures and the basic procedure for the handling of evidence. The Guidelines are a great step in the right direction if the Court wishes to focus on increasing professionalism and efficiency.

The most successful development is that the Patent Court has created a more transparent and efficient system similar to the system developed in the Untied States in handling pretrial issues. The Patent Court of Korea bench marked the U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in developing its pretrial procedures.

For example, the IP Appeal Guidelines establishes a Case Management Video Conference procedure that is modeled after the case management conferences utilized in the United States federal courts. Additionally, these Guidelines established the potentiality to hold hearings akin to U.S. Markman (Claim Construction Hearing) hearings.

We are not, yet, sure how these developments shall progress at the Patent Court, since attorneys and judges are still grappling with these changes. We shall update the reader with developments over the next few months. Please check back.
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Sean Hayes may be contacted at: SeanHayes@ipglegal.com.

Sean 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 is known for his proactive New York-style street-market advice and his aggressive and non-conflicted advocacy. Sean works with some of the leading retired judges, prosecutors and former government officials working in Korea.

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

Other Korean Intellectual Property Law Articles that may be of interest:

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