About This Blog


Kasan Insight :: Korea IP Law Blog provides news, updates and in-depth analysis on Korean intellectual property law, including judgments, legislation, IP strategies and patent landscape in Korea for international readers.

This blog is edited and maintained by professionals of Kasan IP and Law Firm.

About Kasan IP and Law Firm




Since its establishment in 2000 by Korean and American licensed professionals having experience working at leading law firms and companies, Kasan has steadily grown into one of the leading intellectual property law firms in Korea.  We specialize in intellectual property matters, including patent, utility model, trademark, design, copyright, unfair competition dispute, and licensing of technology. The firm's professionals and staff of over 70 have knowledge and resources needed to offer quality legal services to our international clients with confidence and sensitivity for cultural, social and legal differences.

Quality Legal Services 

From the very beginning of Kasan, the standard of every aspect of our practice has been excellence and that touchstone remains intact today. For years, we have represented countless innovators, assisting in protecting ideas, promoting discoveries, and introducing new concepts to the market. We believe our relationships with our clients is based on the trust and confidence that develop over time through prompt, high-quality and consistently valuable service.

Full Range of Legal Services

Kasan provides a full range of legal services in diverse aspects of IP related matters that require in-depth specialization. The firm is not merely a gathering of professionals from various fields but it is an integrated working group of legal and technical specialists that are highly qualified and experienced in their respective fields. 

Manpower

We are aware that our services are judged by the quality, ability and commitment of our members who deliver the service. We have over 70 members including 30 patent and trademark attorneys and 5 attorneys at law, and have heavily invested in manpower that would enable us to deliver specialized services in various IP and legal sectors. Kasan provides clients with linguistic assistance through a Chinese patent attorney, a Japanese technical advisor, a Canadian technical advisor and an American technical advisor. And we strive to provide them with a great environment to show their best abilities.

Experience, Responsiveness, and Reasonable Cost

We are devoted to providing swift, accurate and pragmatic legal advice and action. And we understand and appreciate the ever changing business environment in which our clients finds themselves everyday. Our foremost priority is to enable our clients to come to the best decisions.

Our professionals have a great deal of experience in fields such as electronics, software, mechanical engineering, chemistry, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. They are graduates of top universities in Korea, the U.S., Canada, China, and Japan. And they have many years of experience working for domestic and foreign clients.

Kasan has provided domestic and international clients with the most effective and proactive legal services at the most reasonable price in the country. We strive to provide cost-effective practices.

Kasan's Clients


Samsung Electronics

  • Semiconductor Division
  • Digital Appliance Division
  • Mobile Display Division



Other Companies within Samsung Group

  • Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
  • Samsung Heavy Industries
  • Samsung Techwin
  • Samsung Electro-Mechanics
  • Cheil Industries
  • Semes


Research Institutes and Universities

  • Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)
  • Center of Nanostructured Materials Technology (CNMT)
  • Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon
  • Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology
  • Yonsei University
  • Chungang University
  • Soongsil University
  • Hanyang University
  • Seoul National University
  • Kyungpook National University
  • Jeju National University
  • Gangneung-Wonju National University



Other Clients

  • POSCO
  • Mando Machinery
  • KT
  • SL
  • Wonik IPS
  • Hana Micron
  • Shinwha Intertek
  • Partron
  • Hirose Korea
  • Oy AJAT
  • Daewoong Pharmaceutical
  • Hanlim Pharmaceutical
  • Korea Prime Pharmaceutical
  • Wooshin Medics
  • Lie Sang Bong
  • Egoist
  • InnoMTek
  • Ace Technology
  • Sports TOTO

Practice Areas


IP Prosecutions 


Patents and Utility Models
We have years of experience in drafting patent specifications, translating foreign language specifications into Korean versions, preparing patent applications, filing and prosecuting patent applications before the Korean Intellectual Property Office. Covering all technological areas, our members are organized into three working groups: Electrical and Electronics team, Mechanical and Metallurgical team and Chemistry, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnological team. Each team consists of patent attorneys and patent engineers with technical backgrounds.
  • Mechanical and Metallurgical group: mechanical devices, precision machinery, automobiles, metallurgy, and materials science
  • Electrical and Electronics group: electrical, electronics, semiconductor, computer software, business methods, information technology, communications, and displays
  • Chemical and Biotechnological group: chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biochemistry, biotechnology, textiles, and polymers

- Trademarks and Designs
We understand the essential role of trademarks in today's business world. Our experienced trademark attorneys and staff offer the most cost effective and practical approaches to resolving the trademark-related problems our clients face. We provide a trademark search service based on the largest databases in Korea and expert opinions on the availability of the trademark in the Korean market, and on the registration of the subject trademark. We have a wealth of experience in preparing, filing, prosecuting trademark and design applications before the Korean Intellectual Property Office. We also have extensive experience in the areas of oppositions, invalidation trials and cancellation trials.



Litigation, Enforcement, and Dispute Resolution 


Our firm represents clients on a regular basis in regard to warning letters, preliminary or permanent injunctions, damage compensation, and criminal action. Our patent litigation team consists of an attorney at law as litigator, patent attorneys and patent engineers with specific technological backgrounds. The attorneys at KASAN have a great deal of experience in IP disputes at the IP Tribunal of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). KASAN has been dealing with numerous IP disputes, which makes them the right choice as a strategic mediator in this area. We provide search services of the prior art for patents, registered trademarks, designs, and we have expertise in analyzing the prior art and providing expert opinions on the availability of registration or the possibility of infringement.



Unfair Competition, Trade Secrets, Copyrights, and Domain Name Disputes 


Our services extend to the areas of unfair competition prevention and trade secret protection. Under the Korea Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act, we advise clients on the best strategy to protect valuable information or new technologies that are not covered by patent system. Our practices cover the prevention of unfair competition by third parties. We also help clients in preparing and filing copyright registration applications and often represent clients in mediation procedure before the Korea Copyright Commission for Mediation and Conciliation or in litigation before courts. And we advise clients regarding domain name disputes, internet or e-commerce issues.



IP Management Services 


Within KASAN, a separate IPMC (the Intellectual Property Management & Consulting Company) provides maintenance services for patents, trademarks and designs. We have helped our clients pay annuities, record changes and transfers, and others. And Kasan's licensing attorney had worked for many years in the largest corporation in Korea–Samsung–dealing with licensing matters. With the extensive knowledge and deep insight into Korean industry we offer, our clients are guaranteed to secure both suitable partnerships and a firm customer channel. We also provide Intellectual Property evaluation services, including due diligence, validity studies, liability checks and assessment of IP rights in Korea.