Partner, HOEMOK CHUNG

Partner, Attorney-at-Law, Patent Attorney

 

EDUCATION

2012 : Inha University, Law School, Juris Doctor

2007 : Korea National Open University, Law, BA

1995 : Seoul National University, Electronics Engineering, MS

1993 : Seoul National University, Electronics Engineering, BS

 

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2012 – Present : Kasan IP and Law Firm, Attorney-at-law

1999 – 2008 : GCT Semiconductors, Inc., Senior Research Engineer

1998 : IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Research Intern

1995-1997 : Seoul National University, PhD Candidate

 

EXPERIENCE

1. Korean Bar Association Intellectual Property Training Institute, Member of Management Committee, 2015-2017

1. Seoul Center for Creative Economy and Innovation, Mentor, 2015-2017

1. Seoul Center for Creative Economy and Innovation, Auditor, 2017

1. The Council of Centers for Creative Economy and Innovation, Auditor, 2017

1. Complete education from The Patent Training Institute of Seoul Bar Association, 2012

 

PUBLICATION (In Korean)

1. Computer Systems and Theory, pp 1348-1358, vol. 25, no. 12, 1998.12

1. "A SPARC-based VLIW Testbed" Soo-Mook Moon, HoeMok Chung, Jinpyo Park, SangMin Shim, and Jae-Woo Ahn IEE Proceedings - Computers & Digital Techniques vol. 145, no. 3, May 1998

1. "Using Value Locality on VLIW machines through Dynamic Compilation" HoeMok Chung, Soo-Mook Moon, and Kemal Ebcioglu  Workshop on Binary Translation, Oct 1999

1. Adaptive design of linear phase wavelet filter bank for image data compression), HOEMOK CHUNG, Master’s Thesis, 1995

About KASAN IP & Law Firm

Since its establishment in 2000 by Korean and American licensed professionals having experience working at leading law firms and companies, Kasan IP & Law Firm has steadily grown into one of the leading intellectual property law firms in Korea. In 2017, the firm has 16 years business history and senior partners have over 22 years working experience as professionals.

 

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 90 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 90 members including 35 patent and trademark attorneys, 5 attorneys at law and 3 US attorneys, 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.

Practice Areas of KASAN

We specialize in intellectual property matters, including patent, utility model, trademark, design, copyright, unfair competition dispute, and licensing of technology. Further we have regularly assisted our clients on business law issues and represented our client in legal disputes regarding their business interest before courts, government agencies, arbitration board, police, etc.

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.

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.

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 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 Cases Represented by KASAN

- Pfizer Inc. v. Ahn-Gook, a Korean Pharmaceutical Company
Kasan IP and Law Firm successfully defended a Korean pharmaceutical company against allegations of infringement of a patent relating to Pfizer’s blockbuster medicine Norvasc® in preliminary injunction and permanent injunction infringement litigation, and successfully represented the Korean company in invalidation proceedings, trial to confirm the scope of a patent right and appeals against the trial decisions before the Korean Patent Court and the Supreme Court.

- Tokyo Electron Limited v. IPS, a Korean semiconductor equipment company
We successfully represented a Korean semiconductor manufacturing equipment company in patent infringement litigation before a civil court, invalidation trials before the IPT in KIPO, appeals against the trial decision before the Korean Patent Court. Also we successfully represented our client in criminal prosecution proceedings relating to trade secret theft allegation against TEL.

- Gilead v. Daewoong, a Korean pharmaceutical company
Our firm successfully defended a Korean pharmaceutical company against allegations of infringement of a patent relating to Gilead’s blockbuster drug Hepsera®, in preliminary injunction case, patent infringement litigation, invalidation trials before the IPT in KIPO and appeal against the trial decision.

- Konami v. a Korean game company 
The firm successfully defended a Korean game company in copyright and trademark infringement litigations and criminal prosecution cases, relating to Konami’s famous characters and trademarks.

- KEC, a Korean electronics company v. ASE
We defended ASE against a Korean electronics company in criminal prosecution and litigation relating to theft of trade secret involving semiconductor packaging technologies.

- P&G v. Wooshin, a Korean pharmaceutical company
We successfully defended a Korean generic company in invalidation trial, trial to confirm the scope of a patent and appeal against the trial decisions before the Korean Patent Court and the Supreme Court relating to developing and marketing of a generic version of P&G’s patented medicine Risedronate Sodium for treating osteoporosis.

- ALCON v. Hanlim, a Korean pharmaceutical company
Kasan successfully represented a Korean generic company in invalidation trial and appeal against the trial decision, relating to developing and marketing of a generic version of ALCON’s patented medicine Patanol® for treating allergic conjunctivitis.

- INNOMTEK v. CDM Bridge
The firm successfully represented INNOMTEK in infringement litigation and preliminary injunction cases involving Bluetooth and USB driver technologies.

- TRY Brands v. a personal business owner
We successfully represented TRY Brands in trademark infringement litigation involving a well-known trademark for clothing.

- Shinwha v. Mirae 
We represented Shinwha in patent infringement litigation and invalidation trial, relating to a patent on diffusion film for LCD.

- Dash v. a Korean consumer goods company
Kasan successfully defended a Korean consumer goods company against allegations of infringement of a patent relating to household goods in preliminary injunction.

- Sports TOTO v. a personal business owner
We successfully represented Sports TOTO in patent infringement litigation, invalidation trial and appeal for the trial decision against a personal business owner.

- Wonik, a Korean semiconductor equipment company v. a former researcher of the company
The firm successfully represented a Korean semiconductor equipment company in a trade secret theft case against a former researcher of the company, throughout criminal prosecution, preliminary injunction and infringement litigation.

- Ace Tech, a Korean electronics company v. Hirose Korea, an electronics joint venture between a Korean company and a Japanese company
Kasan IP and Law Firm successfully represented an electronics joint venture between a Korean company and a Japanese company in a trade secret theft case involving mobile antenna technology against Ace Tech throughout criminal prosecution, preliminary injunction and litigation for damages.

- A Korean construction and engineering company “S” v. a Korean construction and engineering company “I”
The firm successfully represented a Korean construction and engineering company “S” in patent disputes and disputes relating to “New Excellent Technology” certification from Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

- National Health Insurance Corporation v. Seoul National University
We successfully defended Seoul National University in insurance benefits refund litigation against National Health Insurance Corporation.

- SK Chemical, a Korean pharmaceutical company v. Dongkuk, a Korean pharmaceutical company
We successfully defended Dongkuk, a Korean pharmaceutical company in patent infringement litigations, trademark infringement litigation, invalidation trial and trial to confirm the scope of a patent before the IPT in KIPO relating to a patented drug of a combination of existing two drugs.

- National Health Insurance Corporation v. Kyungbo, a Korean pharmaceutical company
The firm successfully defended a Korean pharmaceutical company in pharmaceutical expenditure refund litigation, relating to active pharmaceutical ingredients exemption provision.

- Daewoong, a Korean metal working company v. a personal business owner
We successfully represented a Korean metalworking company in patent infringement litigation, invalidation trial and appeal for the trial decision, against a personal business owner.

- Choistech, a Korean electronics startup v. a Korean electronics company
Kasan successfully represented Choistech, a Korean small electronics company in a trade secret theft case relating to electronic accessories for iPhone by obtaining injunctive relief against a Korean electronics company.

- Oy Ajat v. Vatech, a Korean medical device company
We successfully represented a Finnish medical device company Oy Ajat in patent infringement litigation, invalidation trial, post-grant amendment trial and appeal against the trial decisions, relating to a dental instrument.

- Flowmaster Korea v. a Korean software company
Kasan successfully represented Flowmaster Korea, a subsidiary of American software company Flowmaster Inc., in a trade secret theft case relating to computational fluid dynamics simulation software, against a Korean software company.

- Saerom v. a Korean cable TV company 
We successfully represented Saerom in design right infringement litigation and related criminal prosecution against a Korean cable TV company.

 

Work Experience

- Kasan IP and Law Firm successfully advised SL, a Korean automotive parts supplier for GM, Hyundai and Kia, on the strategies to settle IP and licensing disputes related to automotive brake system against a Spanish automotive parts supplier.

- The firm advised a Korean software company on trademark, trade name, matters related to setting up franchise business operations and legal disputes with franchisees.

- We advised Ahn-Gook, a Korean pharmaceutical company on licensing trademark to a Vietnamese pharmaceutical company and matters related to international arbitration.

- The firm has advised Lie Sangbong, a famous designer and a Korean clothing brand on licensing and enforcement of the company’s design rights, trademarks and patents.

- We advised a bio venture company on a wide range of matters including Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, Medical Service Act, legal protection of technology and IP licensing and strategies.

- Kasan advised a Korean fabless semiconductor company on matters relating to trade secret theft and covenant-not-to-compete of retired researchers.

- We have advised healthcare, medical device and u-healthcare companies on matters relating to standard-essential patents.

- The firm has advised a famous designer brand regarding legal protection of copyright and design right, brand licensing, setting up international business and strategy against unauthorized copying.

- The firm advised a Korean pharmaceutical company on obtaining import drug license from SFDA China.

- We have advised smart grid companies on patenting strategies.

- Kasan advised a Korean set-top box manufacturer on establishing counterstrategies to international patent disputes and provided a patent map for set-top box related technologies.

- Kasan advised a Korean electronics company on drafting co-development contract with an American electronics company.

- The firm has advised a Korean metalworking company on IP strategy.

- We have advised a Korean construction and engineering company on matters relating to “New Excellent Technology” certification from Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

- The firm has advised a Korean clothing company on drafting advertising contracts with celebrities.

- We advised a Korean cosmetics, dietary supplement and functional food company on Fair Labeling an Advertising Act, Fair Trade Act, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act and Health Functional Food Act.