Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Jong, Sang Jo --- "Principles and Structure of Patent Litigation" [2010] ELECD 261; in Cho, Kuk (ed), "Litigation in Korea" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Litigation in Korea

Editor(s): Cho, Kuk

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848443396

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Principles and Structure of Patent Litigation

Author(s): Jong, Sang Jo

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

11. Principles and structure of patent
litigation
Sang Jo Jong

I. INTRODUCTION
The current principles and structure of litigation in each country reflect the
legal system and economy of that country which, historically, have been in a
constant state of change. Looking at the history of the Korean economy
throughout the past half-century,1 the role of patent litigation in Korea has
undergone dramatic changes: while patent law did not work efficiently until the
1980s, the importance of patent protection increased very rapidly in the 1990s
and during the 21st century, and accordingly, the volume and quality of patent
litigation has increased as well. GNP per capita increased from 100 U.S. dollars
in the 1960s to more than 16,000 U.S. dollars in 2007, and export of goods
increased from 60 million U.S. dollars to more than 200 billion U.S. dollars
throughout that same period.2 The history of economic development in Korea
has clearly displayed changes both in the general structure of domestic indus-
tries and in the role of patent law and litigation. Until the early 1980s, economic
development was made possible mostly by labor-intensive industries, which
were supplied with a highly educated but low-wage labor force. In the mid-
1980s, however, due especially to labor unrest and sharp wage increases, the
pace of economic development slowed down considerably. As labor-intensive
and low-tech industries in Korea lost their competitiveness, it became clear that
Korea needed technology-intensive industries to ...