Patent Law

EE Times Asia reported today, June 30, 2008:

The South Korea Supreme Court issued an oral ruling that 12 claims of FormFactor's Korean Patent No.252457 are invalid, and ordering the case to be taken back to the Korean Patent Court for further proceedings consistent with the ruling.

The decision, however, does not specifically address the remaining 48 claims of Patent No. 252457, or FormFactor's infringement claims against Phicom Corp. Following normal practice, the bases for the ruling were not given and a written opinion explaining the ruling will typically be expected in one to three weeks.

FormFactor's Korea Patent No. 252457 was issued by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) in 2000. In 2004, the Intellectual Property Tribunal Panel at KIPO upheld the patent against Phicom's challenge, and in 2006, the Korea Patent Court re-confirmed the validity of the patent by dismissing Phicom's appeal of the IPT panel decision.

It was after these earlier reviews of Korea Patent No. 252457 that the Korea Supreme Court found issues with the patent claims and directed the Patent Court to revisit patent validity. FormFactor's infringement claims in Korea against Phicom, which were filed February 24, 2004 with the Seoul Southern District Court (Patent Nos. 278342, 399210) and in Aug. 8, 2006 with the Seoul Central District Court (Patent No. 252457), are still pending.

Read the full article here.