International patent disputes soar

Statistics show that in recent years, patent disputes between Korean companies and foreign companies have soared. The number of disputes increased from 154 in 2009 to 278 in 2011, growing by 80.5%. Among the 1070 international patent disputes from 2007 till now, South Korean companies were sued 821 times, which is 3.3 times the number of lawsuits brought by South Korean companies. Notably, the number of lawsuits brought against the South Korean companies by American NPEs also grew rapidly from 32 in 2009 to 89 in 2011.