법무법인(유한) 율촌 | Yulchon LLC

Yulchon secured a win for Hongsan Light Metal Co., Ltd. (the “plaintiff”) in an appellate suit against HC Company (Happy Call) Co., Ltd. (the “defendant”) over patent infringement related to vacuum cookware.at the Intellectual Property High Court of Korea. The appellate court upheld the trial court's decision, recognizing punitive damages for willful infringement and delivering a final ruling in favor of Hongsan Kyung Metal.

Yulchon argued that HC Company had willfully infringed the patent, presenting detailed evidence to support its claims for punitive damages. Specifically, Yulchon demonstrated that:  (i) the defendant, as the prime contractor, exploited its dominant position over the plaintiff, the subcontractor, by producing and selling infringing products after encountering the  plaintiff’s patented technology through its subcontractor relationship; (ii) despite repeated requests from the plaintiff to cease sales of the infringing products, the defendant continued its sales, reflecting a high degree of willfulness; and (iii) the defendant did not provide any compensation to the plaintiff even though it generated over KRW 50 billion in revenue from the sale of the infringing products. The court accepted all of Yulchon’s arguments, awarding punitive damages equivalent to twice the damage incurred by the plaintiff during the period of willful infringement, in addition to compensatory damages.

This case marks a significant milestone as the first decision by the Intellectual Property High Court to award punitive damages under the amended Patent Act for willful patent infringement. Notably, the appellate court overturned a previous decision (2023Na10938), which limited the application of the revised law to cases where infringement began after the revised law’s effective date. Instead, the court determined that the revised law applies to cases where infringement spans both before and after the law's implementation. This ruling sets an important precedent in patent law, reinforcing the applicability of punitive damages to ongoing infringement cases under the revised Patent Act.