Executive Summary
Coway recently won an appeal of a patent infringement lawsuit involving an ice water purifier patent. This ruling overturned the decision of the first trial ordering the company to pay Chungho Nais partial compensation, and the ruling was overturned by the court of appeal.
In 2015, Chungho filed a lawsuit against Coway, claiming that the hot and cool water purifier system of Chungho’s ice water purifier was being illegally used by Coway, constituting infringement of Chungho’s patent right. Chungho asserted that Coway had released a purifier infringing upon “a water purifying system and apparatus for simultaneously making ice and cold water using one evaporator” owned by Chungho, and having a similar function thereto.
In the first trial, the court partially accepted Coway’s arguments, but also stated that “Coway’s product falls within the scope of the patent right in the name of Chungho Nais,” and ruled that Coway should pay KRW 10 billion in compensation to Chungho Nais. Coway had filed a related invalidation action against the patent right granted to Chungho Nais, but the Supreme Court finally dismissed the invalidation action at the end of the last year after seven years of legal proceedings.
In the appeal trial after the patent right was determined to be valid, the decision was overturned in favor of Coway. The court of appeals held that while the scope of the patent right granted to Chungho Nais includes making ice using cold water after making the cold water in advance, in Coway’s product, ice is made by immediately freezing water that has entered as ice making source water rather than making ice after making cold water in advance, and thus Coway’s product does not fall within the scope of the patent right granted to Chungho Nais.
This case has attracted attention in its field for a considerable period of time due to the litigation having lasted several years. Coway is considered to hold a favorable position in the litigation, and if the decision of the appeal is maintained, Coway is expected to be exempt from monetary damages such as payment of compensation for infringement.