특허침해의 역외적용에 대한 우리 대법원의 태도 - 대법원 2019. 10. 17. 선고 2019다222782 판결을 중심으로 -

In the 2014Da42110 decision, the Supreme Court had adopted a legal principle that "production" under South Korea Patent Act Article 127(1) means production in South Korea, in a case in which a semi-finished product which constitutes the patent invention was produced and exported in South Korea, and the finished product was produced in a foreign country. However, the 2014Da42110 Decision was criticized for the lack of protection of patent rights in considering the modern world economy, where multinational companies and international transactions are gradually increasing, About four years later, in the 2019Da222782 decision, the Supreme Court adopted a new legal principle that the finished product can be considered to be produced in Korea if certain requirements are met, in a case in which the components of the patent invention were produced and exported in South Korea, and the finished product was produced in a foreign country. In the 2019Da222782 Decision, the Supreme Court took an attitude that it could recognize the extraterritorial application of patent infringement under certain requirements, which is meaningful in that it pursue "practical protection of patent rights." Furthermore, the decision is also meaningful in that it sought to comply with the values of "respect for other countries' sovereignty and patent law" and "respect for international comity" inherent in the principle of territoriality. The Supreme Court’s attitude in the 2019Da222782 decision is believed to have been influenced by the purpose of legislating the U.S. Patent Act Article 271(f) and the attitude of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Microsoft decision in 2007 and Life Technologies decision in 2017 that had limited the scope of the Article.