Current Korea Patent Court System, compared to that of the U.S.A. Pilot program
Issue 1: 1 st instance consolidation U.K.: 2 special patent courts (Patents Court & Patents County Court) France: special divisions in 1 court (Paris district court) Switzerland & Taiwan: 1 special patent court Japan: special divisions in 2 courts (Tokyo & Osaka district courts) Korea??: (1) 2 special courts in Seoul & Daejeon or (2) special divisions in 2 courts (Seoul & Daejeon district courts)
Issue 2: Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the 1 st instance court U.K. & Taiwan: intellectual property (IP) cases: patent, trademark, design, copyright, etc. Switzerland & France: patent cases Japan: technological cases: patent, utility model, semiconductor layout, certain unfair competition cases Korea??: (1) technological cases or (2) industrial cases, patent, utility model, design, trademark, which are handled now by the Korea Patent Court (Italian style)
Issue 3: Patent Agent’s Right to Represent (Would-be) European Unified Patent Court, Switzerland & U.K. (Patents County Court): a patent agent by herself can represent the case France & Taiwan: only an attorney-at-law can represent Germany: only an attorney-at-law can represent, but a patent agent has the right to state his opinions in the court Japan: an attorney-at-law can represent, but with her, a certain patent agent can co-represent Korea??: (1) German style (only statement right) or (2) Japanese style (joint representation)
Patentee Winning Rates in Major Countries # of patent litigations filed % of cases going to trial Win Rate 1 US %59% overall 67% jury 2 China % invalidity 34% infringement ( ) 33% 3 Germany % invalidity 80% infringement 33% 4 France %* (1196)55% 5 Japan162335% (565)20% (112/565) 6 Italy % 2 (135)40.7% 7 G. Britain75216% (121/752)26% (21/82)( ) 8 Canada6256% (37)35.4% 9 Switzerland % 2 (108)85% 10 Australia31616% (51)31% 11 Netherlands % 2 (213)51% ( ) KoreaEstimated to be about 40/year 3 Believed to be over 50% (to be determined) Estimated to be about 26% (50% inf. x 52% validity) Patentee Winning Rate ( (David Hill, Global Enforcement & Exploitation of IP, 2007)) Taiwan = 11.6%?