HANOL ClassHankyul IP & Law

Min Son of Hanol IP & Law describes how patent challenges have become even more important under the revised drug pricing framework in South Korea

Min Son of Hanol IP & Law looks at how the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the Korean courts have judged the registrability and validity of pharmaceutical trademarks according to more specific criteria

Min Son of Hanol IP & Law looks ahead at the key deadlines in the South Korean drug patent market for 2021

Korea Seed Industry Act (KSIA) and its Implementing Regulation, effective as of June 19 2020, a person who intends to sell propagating materials of certain types of foreign plant varieties should report this fact to the Ministry for Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), along with submission of evidence proving that such propagating materials have been "legally obtained" (Article 38 of KSIA, Article 27 of Implementing Regulation thereof). In other words, in order to sell propagating materials of foreign plant varieties in Korea, a seed supplier shall have a duty to prove that he has lawfully acquired the same.

On May 20 2020, the Korean Patent Act (KPA) was amended such that mixed damages of lost profits and a reasonable royalty for patent infringement may be claimed by a patentee and awarded by the court. The amendment will apply to damages filed for on or after December 10 2020.

Recently, the Korean Patent Court rendered a favourable decision on the patentability of medical use inventions in which strict scrutiny was employed for two aspects of the enablement and inventiveness requirements.