From International Tribunal of Korea to an Asian Patent Court

This article proposes a process for the successful settlement and operation of the International Tribunal of Korea, and how it could develop into a regional patent dispute resolution institute in Asia. Worldwide, institutions such as the Singapore International Commercial Court are being created to help global citizens resolve international disputes. Since Korea established a specialized intellectual property (IP) court in 1998, the judiciary has made countless reforms to its IP jurisdiction and procedure through IP Hub Court Committees which proposed the IP Hub Court Plan in 2015. It has also increased its interactions with Asian countries such as China, India, Japan, and Vietnam and western countries like Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Recently, Korea launched the International Tribunal at the Patent Court and the Seoul Central District Court, where parties can argue and submit evidence in foreign languages, and judgments will be provided in English or other languages. After the international tribunal develops further and the Patent Court provides an ideal model for IP disputes to Asian countries through its judgments, Korea hopes to implement these dispute resolution systems as part of a unified Asian Patent Court. To achieve this goal, the international tribunal must offer fair, fast, and cost-effective proceedings and judgments. First and foremost, having the means to ensure the enforcement of rulings is crucial to the success of the tribunal. To ensure a fair trial, the international tribunal should be established not only in the Patent Court but also in trial courts, with judges and law clerks that have sufficient local and foreign experiences in patent trials. The parties should be allowed to plead in English, submit original English documents, be accompanied by their own interpreter, and to submit translated documents. Establishing local rules and putting in place a detailed case management system would help create speedier trials. For a cost-effective trial environment, the e-filing system should be amended to allow parties access to court records and to submit petitions from abroad, and improving the evidence examination procedure is essential. Allowing foreign lawyers joint representation alongside a Korean lawyer should also be considered. Creating an Asian Patent Court will be a long and difficult process; however, the countries in this region share similar values on the rule of law. Together, we must address global citizens’ needs for such a new court..