Bae Kim & Lee has suffered several significant losses in IP in the last few years, the most recent being US attorney Junghoon Kenneth Oh's departure to rival firm Kim & Chang. Nonetheless, the firm's IP practice, led by former patent court judge and partner Ki Dong Joo as well as partner Hoo Dong Lee, stays visible in contentious work.
Telecommunications company KT looked to the firm for due diligence on its patent portfolio, which comprises more than 10,000 patents, and used the team when filing a trade mark invalidation case against Sanrio. In the latter trial, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the invalidation.
The firm has also assisted Posco Power with a multimillion dollar technology transfer and licence agreement for transfer of patents, know how and trade secrets and represented JYP Entertainment in lawsuits filed over the cancellation of Korean singer Rain's concert in the US. In the prosecution area, the group represents both domestic and foreign clients, including Hynix, Hyundai Motors, Xerox and Google.