Lee & Ko ranks amongst the premier law firms in South Korea with leading practices across the board. The IP practice is one of the largest and prominent in South Korea comprised of IP litigators, patent attorneys, patent engineers, trade mark paralegals and support staff, many of whom were former judges and examiners at KIPO.
Headed by the highly regarded Jae Hoon Kim, the practice's major strength is IP litigation. Kim himself has been involved in major patent infringement cases. He also represents many foreign brands in trade mark disputes and enforcement matters. The firm has a very impressive list of clients including Exxon Mobil, P&G, Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, Jack Daniel's, 7-Eleven and Seiko Epson.
Kim and his team are representing POSCO in its ongoing legal battle with Japan's Nippon Steel (NS) over claims that POSCO misappropriated NS's trade secrets relating to the manufacture of electrical steel plate, and POSCO is manufacturing them based on NS's trade secrets. NS has filed a suit in Japan seeking damages of ¥100 billion ($1.06 billion) and an injunction against POSCO from further manufacturing of electrical steel. In South Korea, POSCO is seeking declaratory judgment against NS denying misappropriation of its trade secrets.
Lee & Ko successfully prevailed in acting for US-based FEI in a patent infringement case with Hitachi. Hitachi lodged a complaint against FEI at the Korea Trade Commission requesting to stop importation of Dual Beam product into South Korea alleging it infringes Hitachi's South Korean patents.