Yulchon

Intellectual Property, Trade Secret, IP Risk Management (IP Compliance), Broadcasting/ICT, Healthcare/Life Sciences, Automotive, Environment and Energy, Natural Resources Development, New Industry IP, Internal Investigations (Forensics), Anti-Corruption (The Improper Solicitation and Graft Act), Patent/Utility Model, Design, Trademark, Copyright (Iincluding Computer Program), Unfair Competition, Intellectual Property License/Transaction, Litigation, General Civil Disputes, Administrative Disputes, Criminal

Partner (Head of the New Industry IP Team, Deputy Head of the Internal Investigations Team)

Hyeong Joo Lim graduated from Seoul National University, College of Engineering, and passed the 45th Korean bar examination in 2003. Mr. Lim graduated from the Judicial Research and Training Institute at the Korean Supreme Court in 2006, served as a government attorney, and joined Yulchon in 2009 and is currently a partner in Yulchon’s Intellectual Property Group.

Mr. Lim also serves as the head of the New Industry IP Team that has been recently launched in Yulchon’s Intellectual Property Group. Mr. Lim performs advisory tasks and litigation based on expertise in legal issues in new technology areas such as information and communication, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, and self-driving, and as the deputy head of the Internal Investigation Team, Mr. Lim performs forensic and internal investigation tasks.

Mr. Lim is licensed to practice as a lawyer and patent attorney in Korea, and has performed traditional litigation and advisory tasks relating to intellectual property (including patents, designs, trademarks, copyrights and acts of unfair competition). In particular, Mr. Lim has extensive experience in trade secret tasks (including civil and criminal cases involving trade secret infringement, preliminary injunction cases for prohibition of changing jobs, trade secret compliance, and fair trade cases relating to technology misappropriation), internal investigation tasks (forensic analysis, interviews, etc.), claims for compensation for employee inventions and establishment of corporate internal systems.

In addition, Mr. Lim has handled various unfair competition cases including those relating to the newly added provisions of the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act and other various cases requiring engineering knowledge such as disputes over product liability/license agreements. With such extensive work experience and positive client feedback, Mr. Lim was able to be the first Yulchon attorney who was selected as one of 40 recommended lawyers under age 40 in Asia by the Asian Legal Business in 2017, and won official commendation from the Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2019. In 2020, Mr. Lim was voted as the “Best IP Lawyer” by in-house counsel in a survey conducted by Korea’s Law Times.

2009-present  Yulchon LLC (Head of the New Industry IP Team; Deputy Head of the Internal Investigation Team) 2024-present  Member of the Patent Office's Task Force for Developing the Basic Plan for Utilization of Industrial Property Information 2024-present  Member of the Korea Copyright Commission 2024-present  Member, Defense Industry Security Response Association Advisory Committee 2023-present  Advisor for state certified industrial security managers of the Korean Association for Industrial Technology Security 2022-present  Deliberation committee member for the research and development of Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism copyright technology 2022-present  Member of the “Advisory Conference preventing copyright infringement in trading NFT” launched by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism 2019-present  Arbitrator, Korean Commercial Arbitration Board 2018-present Expert Advisor, Industrial Technology Protection Committee of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy 2021  Member, Intellectual Property Council for New Technology Environment, Korea Copyright Commission 2021  Member, Committee for Improvement of Legislative System for AI Industry, National Information Society Agency 2021  Member, Technology Protection Division of Committee for Improvement of Trade Secret Protection System, Korea Intellectual Property Office 2021  External advisor, Korea Music Copyright Association 2020  Reviewer, Copyright Protection Review Board, Korea Copyright Protection Agency 2020  Expert Advisor on smart city, Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement 2020  Expert Advisor on Biomedicine, Presidential Council on Intellectual Property 2020  Member, Industrial Property Right Dispute Mediation Committee, Korean Intellectual Property Office 2020  Member of Taskforce for Technology Protection in Biotechnology Industry in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic 2019  Appointed as a member of the dispute resolution committee of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy 2019  Legal expert of Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency 2019  Full member of National Academy of Industrial Security of Korea 2019  Advisor to Korea Copyright Protection Agency 2019  Director of Korea Intellectual Property Management & Economics Association 2019  Advisor on Amendment of the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology 2019  Advisor to Employee Invention Deliberation Committee of Osong Medical Foundation 2018  Lecturer of Technology Divulgence for Investigators of Industrial Technology Divulgence Investigation Units and Forensic Investigators Nationwide 2016  Advisor to Employee Invention Review Committee of SK Chemicals 2016  Lecturer of Intellectual Property Rights at National Tax Service, International Legal Affairs Bureau 2016  Lecturer of Professional Training Course of the Korea Patent Attorneys Association (Acts of Unfair Competition and Trade Secret) 2015  Lecturer of Trade Secret at Korea Institute of Patent Information and at Korean Association for Industrial Technology Security 2014  Advisor to Employee Invention Review Committee of Samsung Electronics

Korean, English

2009 Korean Patent Bar 2006 Korean Bar Association

2006  Judicial Research and Training Institute, the Supreme Court of Korea 2002  Seoul National University, College of Civil, Urban & Geo-system Engineering, B.E.

2024  Leading Lawyer, Intellectual Property, asialaw 2024  Silver, IP Litigation, IAM Patent 1000 2024  Leading Individual, Intellectual Property, Legal 500 2023  Korea Super 30 Lawyers, Asian Legal Business 2023  Asia TOP 15 IP Lawyers, Asian Legal Business 2023  Top 60 IP Experts of South Korea, Asia IP 2023  Leading Lawyer, Intellectual Property, asialaw (Edition 28) 2023  Leading Lawyer, Intellectual Property, asialaw (Edition 27) 2022  Leading Lawyer, Intellectual Property, Asialaw 2020~2023  Next Generation Partner, Intellectual Property, Legal 500 2020~2024  Leading Lawyer, Intellectual Property, Chambers AP 2023-2024  Litigation star, Intellectual property, Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific 2023-2024  Stand-Out Lawyer, Thomson Reuters 2023-2024  Recommended, Transactions, World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000 2021-2022  Top 50 IP Experts of South Korea, Asia IP 2022  Lawyer of the Year, Law Times 2022  Korea’s Best Law Firm & Lawyer, Intellectual Property/Patents/Trademarks, Hankyung Business 2022  Silver, IP Litigation, IAM Patent 1000 2022-2024  National Leader, Intellectual Property, Who’s Who Legal: Korea 2021  Korea Super 30 Lawyer, Asian Legal Business 2021  Winner, Intellectual Property-Patents, Lexology Client Choice Awards 2021  Leading Lawyer for IP and TMT sectors, Legaltimes 2021~2024  Trade mark star, Managing Intellectual Property 2021~2024  Patent star, Managing Intellectual Property 2021  Best Lawyer, IP Transaction, WTR 2020  Best IP Lawyer, Korea’s Law Times 2019  Won official commendation from the Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (for his contribution to industrial security) 2017  Asia-Pacific 40 under 40, Intellectual Property, Asian Legal Business