Yoon & Lee

The firm: Yoon & Lee was founded in 1989 by Mr Dong-yol Yoon, one of the leading figures in the Korean IP sector and a former head of the Korean Patent Attorneys Association. The firm has a wide range of clients in terms of geographical distribution and industrial sector and also ranging from established global operations to small and medium sized enterprises. The firm’s philosophy is to create strong trust-based relationships as reflected in the near 30-year long relationships developed with some of Korea’s most famous companies. We believe that honesty and a reputation for excellence leads to satisfaction for clients and a good reputation for the firm.

In particular, we are well-known for the high percentage of patent attorneys and technical specialists in comparison with general law firms and other patent law firms in Korea, which allows us to offer an efficient and effective combination of patent attorneys, former KIPO examiners, foreign attorneys, and technical advisors with advanced degrees. This has enabled us to develop a strong reputation for patent filing, prosecution, and registration, both in Korea and overseas, especially in the electronics, software, mechanical, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and biochemical sectors.

In the past year, the firm has continued to expand while strengthening its services especially in the chemistry/bio-tech and machinery sectors. In particular, there has been a notable increase in requests from small and medium-sized companies for patent prosecution work, while leading major clients have begun to increase their patent work again after easing back during the covid pandemic. Also, the firm gained a major new overseas client in 2023, ASM N.V., a leading maker of wafer processing equipment for semiconductor makers. In addition, the trademark and design sector has continued to strengthen under the leadership of Mr Sang-yong Lee, a former trademark examiner at the Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).

Areas of practice: Yoon & Lee’s services cover all aspects of intellectual property rights (IP) with a specialization in the prosecution of patents, utility models, trademark, and design applications, but also including litigation, copyright protection, licensing agreements and assignments, and technology valuation and transfer services.

For patents, the firm provides effective and efficient services for domestic and international patent rights, especially in high technology fields such as electrical engineering, electronics, telecommunications, machinery, chemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and life sciences. While we have great experience and expertise in litigation activities, the primary focus of our patent prosecution services is to obtain effective patents for our clients in the most efficient manner and avoid having to enter into litigation before the patent courts. As a result, most of our prosecution work proceeds successfully with relatively little need to engage in litigation activities.

The electronic and software and telecommunications sectors are overseen by Mr Ji-man Park and Mr Yong-won Lee. Mr Park has an excellent reputation for his technical and legal knowledge and has advised major companies and the courts on technical issues and IP rights, while Mr Lee has over 15 years’ experience as a patent attorney and is proficient in 3GPP LTE & LTE-A and 5G communication standards. Mr Byeong-ok Song is in charge of the mechanical and mechatronics, optics, semiconductors, and electrical and electronics sectors as well as promotion of inbound cases. He has an MS in physics, an LLM (USA), and over 30 years’ experience as a patent attorney. A new member of the mechanics team is Mr Jun-young Bak, an ex-examiner and trial examiner at KIPO and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Mr Dong-yol Yoon, as well as being managing partner, heads the chemical and biochemical sector, which also includes Mr Seongki Kim, a noted expert in Korea for patent prosecution and litigation and a US-qualified attorney-at-law.

The trademark and design team headed by Mr Lee also includes a US-qualified attorney (Ms Jaewon Yoon) with a background in IP to provide a global perspective and a Korean attorney-at-law (Mr Ju-ho Jeong) for litigation activities. The team acts for businesses in all market sectors from established global organizations to small and medium sized enterprises and a globally expanding franchise operation. It is building a growing overseas reputation and handles trademark filings and registrations from clients in the USA, China, Japan, the EU, South America, and Southeast Asia as well as local Korean clients.