The decision made by the Intellectual Property Tribunal on January 22, 2019 on the case No. 2017 Won2117 shall be revoked.

The costs of lawsuit.

1. Basic facts

A. 1) The Plaintiff’s invention with the name “B” as described in C(b) below (hereinafter “instant patent application invention”).

On August 10, 2016, the examiner filed an application with the Plaintiff. On August 10, 2016, the examiner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office notified the Plaintiff of the submission of an amendment to the contents of the claim 1, 3, and 5 among the instant patent application inventions, that “the nonobviousness shall be denied pursuant to Article 29(2) of the Patent Act, as it is possible for a person who has ordinary knowledge in the art to which the invention pertains (hereinafter referred to as “ordinary technician”) to easily make the invention by prior inventions 1, 2 (hereinafter referred to as “prior inventions 1, 2) below (hereinafter referred to as “prior inventions 1, 2).” Accordingly, the Plaintiff deleted claims 2, 4, among the instant patent application inventions described as the initial five claims on October 10, 2016, the examiner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office submitted an amendment and written opinions regarding the amendment to the claims 1, 3, and 5, but the examiner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office denied the nonobviousness of the instant invention on the ground that “the nonobviousness is still denied by the prior inventions 1,”.

3) On March 2, 2017, the Plaintiff filed a request for reexamination while submitting an amendment and written opinion to amend the specification, etc. of the instant invention. However, on April 1, 2017, the examiner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office rendered a decision of rejection on the ground that “the invention in the instant case would be denied by prior invention 1 and 2 even if the amendment was made.” (4) On April 28, 2017, the Plaintiff dissatisfied with the request and filed a petition for a decision of rejection seeking revocation of the said decision of rejection with the Intellectual Property Tribunal 2017 Won2117, the Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal. However, on January 22, 2019, the Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal rejected claims 1 of the instant invention in the instant application on the ground that “the nonobviousness is denied by prior invention 1 and 2, thus the remaining claims should be rejected as a whole without the need to examine them.”