판례평석 : Quanta v. LG 판결이 한국에서 가진 의미에 대한 소고(小考) = Case Review : The study on the meaning of Quanta v. LG decision by U.S. Supreme Court to Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In June 9, 2008, U.S. Supreme Court declared in Quanta v. LG decision that the patent-exhaustion doctrine should be applied not only to the patent for apparatus invents but also to method patents. This position is to discourage patent drafters from disguising their patent claims as method patents even though those are actually apparatus invents. However, U.S. Supreme Court left open the question of whether a patentee could exclude the application of the patent-exhaustion doctrine by inserting a clear restriction into his patent license agreement. Though there have been relatively few studies about these issues in Korea, the above decision will be a good guidance for our country`s forthcoming cases. On the other hand, U.S. Supreme Court in this case once again put a brake on CAFC`s continuing attitude toward pro-patentee bias. From the Festo decision in 2002 to Quanta v. LG decision in this time through the eBay v. MercExchange decision in 2006, the MedImmune decision in January 2007, the KSR decision & the Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp decision in April 2007, U.S. Supreme Court had continually reversed CAFC`s judgments, demanding to take a more broader view considering not only the protection for patentees but the promotion for fair competition in market. Because Korea has the Patent Court of Korea whose status is similar to that of CAFC in US, it will become more and more important for the Supreme Court of Korea to properly guide the Patent Court of Korea not to expose the drawbacks of a specialized court. Also, this decision in Quanta v. LG case will probably be the reading case in US patent law area where the Korean major corporation appeared on the stage as a party for the first time. This situation suggests that our corporations` technological prowess in patent area already reached the level of demanding stronger patent protection, while the biased pro-patentee attitude should still be ruled out in Korea if considering the importance of the promotion for fair competition in market.