新着情報

On May 27, 2024, the E-Daily reported that Lee & Ko attorneys Keum Nang Park and Sung Hui Yoon were selected as ‘Top 100 Women in Litigation’ and ‘Top 40 Under 40 2024’ respectively for the Asia-Pacific region as published by Benchmark Litigation. As the Co-head of Lee & Ko’s Healthcare Group, Ms. Keum Nang Park has gained experience in cases related to intellectual property rights such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents. As one of the key attorneys in Lee & Ko’s Construction & Real Estate Group and Environmental Safety Group, Mr. Sung Hui Yoon advises and represents client in the practice areas of construction, real estate, occupational safety and serious accidents, public-private partnership project, administrative litigation etc. 

On May 24, 2024, Jose Ilbo reported Lee & Ko’s winning of awards. Lee & Ko was awarded in four categories at the “Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Awards 2024”. First, Lee & Ko was honored with the ‘Commercial and Transactions Firm of the Year’ and ‘Labour and Employment Firm of the Year’ awards. In addition, the firm also won two “Impact Cases of the Year” awards in recognition of its performance in the largest dispute in South Korean history of patent litigation against a global healthcare company’s global blockbuster heart failure treatment agent and an insurance claim for an accident occurred during the construction of a double-track railway public-private partnership project in Busan. 

On February 13, 2024, Aju News shared in its news article Lee & Ko’s attorney Mr. Un Ho Kim’s remark on a recent update regarding the Act on the Prevention of Unfair Competition and Protection of Trade Secrets.  Mr. Kim explained that, with proposed amendments to the Act now passed at the Cabinet meeting, “businesses should be mindful that damages awarded in intellectual property cases could increase significantly and so is the possibility of criminal punishment, and should establish meticulous measures to prevent infringement of intellectual property rights.”  He further commented, “in the event of an intellectual property dispute, the right holder needs to actively utilize the relevant provisions in the Act.”

Forbes reported an interview with Jaewoo Kwak, a partner of Lee & Ko on January 23, 2024. In the interview, Mr. Kwak, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights, stated that although there are currently few cases related to AI worldwide, there will be more in the future. He discussed the intellectual property market for various industries including electronics, materials, chemicals, machinery, automobiles, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology. He also addressed copyright issues related to AI and predicted the trends in laws and regulations governing AI use.

On January 8, 2024, Chosun Biz reported Lee & Ko’s recent win for Boryung Pharmaceutical, noting that “as the efficacy of Dukarb®, Boryung’s hypertension drug, went viral, it became the target of other Korean pharmaceutical companies” but “Boryung has defended its Dukarb® patent all the way from the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board stage to the ensuing trials, with Lee & Ko’s Healthcare Practice Group, led by Ms. Keum Nang Park, playing a key role in the defense.”  Ms. Park remarked in an interview that “this is the first time a Korean pharmaceutical company that has developed an original drug defended its patent rights in a large-scale dispute against multiple generic companies,” further noting that “we felt that this drug should be afforded patent protection especially since it was a new drug developed after many challenges in Korea, where new drug R&D is still rare.”

On December 5, 2023, Hankyung reported Lee & Ko’s recent win in the lawsuits involving Boryung Pharmaceutical’s combination drug patent related to Ducarb®, Boryung’s blockbuster drug.  Representing the patentee, Lee & Ko won in all 10 cases, which included patent invalidation actions and negative scope confirmation actions.  Lee & Ko’s team, with attorneys Keum Nang Park, Heon Lee and Eunkyoung Lyu and patent attorneys Tae Min Kim and Sungmin Cho, strategically crafted arguments based on sound and in-depth analysis of legal theories, ultimately securing this victory.

On September 13, 2023, News1 published an article on Lee & Ko attorney Hwan Sung Park’s panel participation in an upcoming debate to be held by the National Assembly. At the “National Assembly Debate Forum on Introducing K-Discovery for Patent Infringement Litigation,” to be held by the National Assembly and Korean Intellectual Property Office on September 14, Mr. Park, drawing on his years of hands-on experience, will present his opinions on issues relating to the proposed discovery system, including ways for minimizing leak of trade secret information in the course of factual investigation of experts and for excluding legal opinions from the scope of such expert investigation.

On July 23, 2023, Lee & Ko’s Virtual Assets Investigation Response Team, led by Mr. Kwang Bae Park, was featured in the Korea Economic Daily. The Korea Economic Daily reported that “Lee & Ko plans to incorporate the Virtual Assets Investigation Response TF into the official structure as the Virtual Assets Investigation Response Team, as early as the end of this month,” and “assign leading lawyers in the field of virtual assets from the existing criminal and digital finance teams.”

On July 16, 2023, an interview with Mr. Kim, Young-jin from Kwangjang Lee & Ko was reported in the Korea Economy, a prominent news media outlet in Korea. Mr. Kim, Young-jin, who has handled various labor cases while working at the Supreme Court and the Labor Division of the Seoul High Court, stated in the interview regarding the recent judgment by the Supreme Court on compensation claims for damages caused by labor strikes that "in the future, companies will be burdened with the task of gathering refuting evidence to claim compensation against individual union members who deny their participation in strikes."

2023.7.3.イーデイリーに、法務法人(有)Lee & Koが日本の阿部・井窪・片山(AIK)法律事務所と6月29日に開催した「日本IP実務の最新動向」セミナーに関して報道されました。今回のセミナーでは、日本のAIK法律事務所が日本におけるIPの争点を発表し、続いてLee & Koの知的財産権グループが、関連した韓国における争点を説明する方式で執り行われました。特に、日本のAIK法律事務所の片山英二代表弁護士も出席され、日本のビジネスコート導入の背景と特許侵害訴訟の審理モデルに関して発表しました。

On June 12, 2023, Aju Business Daily reported that Lee & Ko’s digital forensics capabilities have enhanced. The article noted that “Lee & Ko is equipped with major digital forensic investigation platforms and analytical tools, such as X-ways, Axiom (a forensics analysis software) and Intella, to enable the law firm to quickly analyze and gather digital evidence. It further noted that “Lee & Ko has ‘Trade Secret & Technology Leak Dispute Team’ consisting of about 120 professionals and is actively responding to trade secret disputes of not only local but also overseas businesses.”

Kim Un-Ho, a partner of Lee & Ko, has been appointed as the chairman of the Korean Intellectual Property Lawyers’ Association (KIPLA), published by the Law Times on February 14, 2023.  The Law Times said that Mr. Kim as “a lawyer with expertise in the intellectual property law has made a significant contribution to establishing new legal principles in the IP rights area, having actively engaged and advised in diverse landmark cases including the smartphone patent wars between Samsung and Apple, elastomer patent litigation between LG Chem and Mitsui Chemicals, trademark fight between Lacoste and Crocodile which is well-known as ‘Crocodile Battle,’ and unfair competition prevention case for Haeundae Amso Galbi (Korean beef ribs) restaurant.”  Meanwhile, Kwak Jaewoo who is a partner of Lee & Ko was also appointed as the secretary general of KIPLA.