Intellectual property: local firms in South Korea

‘Very perceptive and strategic, allowing for successful IP protection strategies.’

‘They care about their clients.’

‘K&C does our most important patent prosecution work for our commercial products. K&C has also advised on related regulatory, competition and patent prosecution work.’

‘K&C also has done licensing-related work and patent-related submissions concerning regulatory matters. Kim and his team are proactive, raising issues for our consideration and review beyond the immediate issue that we have presented. It is always a pleasure to work with In and his team. In and his team’s advice is insightful, proposing courses of action that address and seek to obtain the end we seek.’

‘Sang-Wook Han and Duck Soon are the best. SW is a suave internationalist, guiding clients through the Asian litigation landscape with panache. Duck Soon is a general who guides his troops to success.’

‘Our experience with Lee & Ko has been nothing short of exceptional. In particular, we have been impressed with their round-the-clock responsiveness, sharp legal minds and strategic thinking.’

‘Lee & Ko’s team of partners, associates, and patent attorneys worked together as one body in a remarkably smooth, effective, and cost-saving way. This is an exceptional level of efficiency and seamless coordination. ‘

‘Lee & Ko has shown the utmost excellence among the global firms we have worked with when it comes to their efficient performance and high quality work.’

‘We highly appreciate and value the work of Jae Hoon Kim, the head partner who oversaw the entire litigation, and Hayoun Chan, the working-level partner in charge. John Kim is also a noted name. They focused on both the details and the big picture, whilst keeping in mind the commercial imperatives. Jae Hoon is a legendary figure in the Korean IP world – he makes himself available all the time and provides insightful inputs. John has the advantage of being fluent in English, which makes him an asset to the team. He is also well versed with US litigation and practice, and is able to explain Korean practice and concepts in terms that are familiar to common law lawyers.’

‘Hui Jin Yang – best patent litigator/counsel in Korea regarding pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and life sciences.’

‘Choong Jin Oh – highly experienced former judge of the Korean Patent Court and exceedingly knowledgeable of Korean patent law practice.’

‘Shin & Kim’s IP team boasts its analytical skills in cases and provides required services in a timely manner based on an accurate understanding of what companies need. In this sense, Shin & Kim has been widely known as a promising law firm in the pharmaceutical industry. The level of service fees charged by Shin & Kim is appropriate and considered rational compared to the quality of service provided by Shin & Kim.’

‘Shin & Kim’s IP team led by attorney Bo Kyung Lim is equipped with the technical expertise required for pharmaceutical patent as well as experience and capacity to understand and apply relevant IP legal principles. The team also has extensive knowledge in legal principles or cases in other countries which helps them to provide in-depth and sufficient defense for different level and types of litigations.’

‘Shin Kim lawyers are experts in copyright lawsuits, especially Sang Hyeok Im in Korea and Kyle Choi in the US. Their service was excellent and gave us very good results to settle the case.’

‘This team is excellent at aligning the needs of international clients with the realities of the local regulatory environment and commercial and legal practice. The internationally-facing and local-facing coordinate well to deliver a seamless product.’

‘Good teamwork, proactive, reasonable billing, amazing performance.’

‘The team has great synergy; the leader designed the plan based on global IP strategy, and other team members provide various ideas on the plan. They communicated well with each other, and they deeply trusted their team members. That makes their IP strategy filled with innovative ideas. It is totally different from any other formulaic IP strategies of other firms.

‘Hyeong Joo Lim and Yong Min Lee are the best professionals I’ve ever met in legal industry. They have real-world insight on IP dispute area. And they provide practical advice to their clients, rather than just give theoretical legal analysis.’

‘Strong experience and excellent team members. ’

‘BKL’s Intellectual Property team showed an excellent teamwork, expertise and professionalism throughout client’s project. BKL played a critical role to bring the dispute to a successful conclusion with a superb capability beyond IP matters and provdided comprehensive legal service to meet client’s needs. ’

‘Jihyun Kim presented great professionalism and expertise in resolving our dispute. Her service did not stop at just providing IP analysis, but covered broad matters beyond IP issues, oftentimes even helped the client come up with innovative business ideas in cases of making tough judgments. ’

‘BKL has an international presence and can work on IP cases globally. They support a big Korean multinational company against a big Japanese firm in well-known global IP litigation.

‘They maintain an excellent international legal network to provide the best supporting team for their client.’

‘I work with Hoodong Lee and Wonyoung Chung on big international litigation, and they support their client very well. They speak Japanese very well and support the client efficiently. They maintain excellent communication with the client.’

‘BKL lawyers have given their opinion very promptly. They find legal issues exactly and we are satisfied with their opinion. A specific stand-out partner is Jihyun Kim.’

‘BKL team handle technical disputes including patent infringement and invalidity cases with support of the patent prosecution division. They are very familiar with the Japanese practice of the court and the JPO. ’

‘The team works well with teams in the other countries who are working on related cases. The firm has also provided advice to my company’s local Korean in-house regulatory attorneys in providing responses to queries by the Korean Ministry of Health concerning the patent litigation matters that they are handling. I consider them one of the best firms that I have ever worked with.’

‘All members of Yoon & Yang team display a high level of professionalism and involvement in the matters that they represent. They are also client-centered and were able to meet the demanding workload during the US International Trade Commission investigations.’

‘Yoon & Yang operates a discovery center dedicated to US-style discovery procedures which is staffed by capable attorneys. Yoon & Yang’s effort was instrumental in successfully conducting the extensive discovery required of by the US International Trade Commission.’

‘With regard to billing, we felt that it was very reasonable. We never identified any superfluous work in the invoices and feel that Yoon & Yang IP team provides excellent “value for money”.’

‘Chang Woo Lee’s engineering background and his knowledge in both US/Korean laws was extremely helpful. He provided clear and insightful advice which helped with the company’s decision-making in the cases.’

‘Yoon & Lee is very strong in its technical knowledge and abilities as well as its knowledge on patent prosecution practices. Its experts have an in-depth knowledge of their particular technical specialities with up-to-date and advanced knowledge in their fields.’

‘Yoon & Lee is very responsive to client demands and provides great feedback and detailed advice and explanations. Clients can expect them to be focused and work really hard on their behalf to produce the optimum outcome. They will not be better served by any other representative in Korea. ’

‘We deal mainly with the Telecommunication and Standard Patent teams of Yoon & Lee. The partners heading the teams, Mr. Ji-man Park and Mr. Yong-won Lee, both have great experience and knowledge in these technical areas as well as an excellent understanding of patent prosecution processes. Both are excellent communicators for explaining or presenting the issues. In addition.’

‘Mr. Lee is an expert in telecommunication standards. Other notable individuals include Ms. Ki-won Na, Mr. Seong-hee Lee, and Mr. Sung-rock Choi. Ms. Na is in great demand from clients for her ability to produce excellent work while operating on a tight time schedule. Both Mr. Lee and Mr. Choi have excellent abilities for drafting and prosecuting patent applications. ’

‘Yoon&Lee is one of those firms not only relying on Samsung but also serving other clients. That makes them a balanced firm.’