As the industrial structure of Korea rapidly advances, more companies are endeavoring to become more competitive by focusing on intellectual property, such as patents, trademarks and industrial designs. As a result, patent disputes are increasing and the amount of money related to these disputes is increasing exponentially. Hence, there is a growing need to resolve disputes at an early stage.


To drastically expedite patent judgments, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), under Commissioner Sang-Woo Jun, is planning to reduce the time needed to resolve patent judgments—from a period of 14 months in 2003 to 6 months by the end of 2007. To reach this goal, KIPO will increase the number of judges and make innovative improvements to the judgment process.


KIPO increased its juridical staff by 30 in 2006, and it plans to boost this number by a further 24 in 2007, giving it a total of 103 judges (including 11 head judges). In addition, the “principle of concentration”, which was applied to a few cases in 2006, will now be applied to all cases. Other innovative improvements to the judgment process include a restriction on extending the period for submitting written refutations or opinions and permission for giving oral notice of the schedule for completing a trial.


The principle of concentration means that the claims and evidence of both the plaintiff and defendant can be accepted simultaneously. Under this system, the issues and evidence can be organized at an early stage for a swift judgment. The principle was partially introduced in January 2006 for cases requiring an early completion, such as judgments for confirming the scope of rights. When the principle of concentration is applied, a case can be conducted orally after the initial proceedings and the issues can be organized at an early stage. The collection of sufficient opinions from both parties during an oral trial is expected to enhance the quality and fairness of judgments.


Currently, the initial submission period for a written refutation or opinion is one month. This period can be extended for another month on two more occasions, giving a maximum period of three months. In many cases an interested party has abused this system in order to intentionally delay the trial. Hence, in cases lodged after February 2006, judges will strictly examine any requests to extend the submission period so that unnecessary delays can be prevented.