經通國際智慧產權事務所

The Korean TFT-LCD panel manufacturer Jusung Engineering has been having frequent exchanges with the panel industry leader American Megatrends Inc (AMI) in panel Patents as well as related market share of panel. The recent Verdict of the Intellectual Property Court (IP Court) stated that Jusung’s invention Patent “Transfer Chamber for Cluster System” has international priority; the Decision of the TIPO based on AMI’s invalidation and the Decision of the Appeal to cancel Jusung’s Patent are dismissed.

The key to winning the lawsuit was the inaccurate interpretation of the Intellectual Property Office of Jusung’s Patent and the Patent used by AMI for the Invalidation. The IP Court finds the prior art of the Patent used for the Invalidation was not exactly the same as Jusung’s Patent. The interpretation of the TIPO was incorrect and the fact that the MOEA did not correct TIPO’s decision was not appropriate. An Appeal could still be filed for the subject lawsuit with the Supreme Administrative Court.

In 2004, Jusung filed an invention patent application with the TIPO for its invention “Transfer Chamber for Cluster System”, claiming priority right of its Korean patent application dated 2003. After undergoing the substantive examination, the application was granted and its validity lasts from 2006 to 2024.

Not long after Jusung received its Patent, AMI filed Invalidation against Jusung’s Patent with the TIPO based on an existing Patent “Vacuum Chamber for Vacuum Processing Apparatus”.

After examining the Invalidation, the TIPO issued its Decision to dismiss the Patent Right in 2008; Jusung filed an Appeal against this Decision, however, MOEA maintained the Decision and rejected the Appeal.

Jusung refused to give in and pointed out nine reasons that demonstrated that the TIPO has incorrectly interpreted the content of their Patent. For example, the transfer chamber of their Patent has three main bodies and its purpose is for air-tight sealing of the three main bodies when they are connect, so the whole transfer chamber is under a vacuumed condition for vapor phase deposition of the LCD panel. However, the TIPO concluded that the main body of the Junsung Patent could be dissembled, which showed that the TIPO has obviously confused the main bodies with the transfer chamber.

Organized and translated by Angela Shen

International Affairs