[South Korea] Patent Court, February 3, 2024 <2023 Na 10914>
Updated: 6 hours ago
Article information
Article type: Case note
Category: South Korea
Topics: Working of inventions
First published on this website: 2026-11-01
Display and classification checked: November 2, 2026
Originally published on Ameblo: 2025-07-06 (Japan time). Full English translation.
[South Korea] Patent Court, February 3, 2024 <2023 Na 10914>
Unless processing or assembly abroad is extremely minor or simple, domestic production of a semi-finished product does not constitute direct infringement.
⇒ Where production of components or a semi-finished product has reached a state in which the patented invention's functions and effects are achieved, domestic production is recognized (Supreme Court, 2019 Da 22782). In this case, however, the remaining mixing step was found not to be “extremely minor or simple,” and non-infringement was found.
★In the United States: CAFC, April 2001, Waymark v. PortaSystems
Under 35 U.S.C. § 271(f)(2), if a semi-finished product has been supplied outside the United States, it is unnecessary to prove that the patented product was actually completed outside the United States; proof of an intent to combine is sufficient.
⇒ Infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(f)(2) was found in a case in which completion of the system was planned but the system was never actually assembled.
★Also in Japan: Osaka District Court, 2009 (Wa) 15096, “Heat-Treatment Furnace Equipped with an In-Furnace Heater …” Case
*Knock-down shipment after initial assembly (a method in which all components are assembled at the export destination) was held to constitute assignment.
(Excerpt from the court's reasoning)
For the defendant's products intended for overseas customers as well, the defendant manufactured or procured the necessary components in Japan … and completed the products to the stage of provisional assembly, at which it checked their operation; for some products, it even provisionally fired the furnace body. Although these products were subsequently returned to component form and exported, and some components were added when they were assembled overseas, those components were unrelated to the constituent requirements of the patented invention. Therefore, at the stage of provisional assembly in Japan, the defendant's products, although still work in progress, are found already to have been completed to the extent that they satisfied the constituent requirements of the patented invention. On that basis, the defendant can be said to have performed “production” (Article 2(3)(i) of the Patent Act), an act of working the patented invention, in Japan. …
The defendant's products were reportedly returned to component form after provisional assembly and operational checks, and then packed and exported. … Given that the products in their provisionally assembled state appear not to have been so large as to make transportation in that state impossible, their being provisionally assembled and then returned to component form is found to have been merely for convenience of transportation. …
Considering these matters together, the series of acts performed by the defendant in Japan in connection with the sale of the defendant's products can be regarded as “assignment” (Article 2(3)(i) of the Patent Act), an act of working the patented invention, notwithstanding the fact that the defendant's products were in component form before export.
Translator’s notes (editorial)
The Korean decision date and case number, including February 3, 2024 and 2019 Da 22782, are reproduced as supplied; no independent correction or legal verification has been made.
Update history
The first-published date remains unchanged. Display maintenance, classification changes, related-article updates, and text corrections are recorded separately.
November 1, 2026: First published on this website.
November 2, 2026: Added article information, classification, topics, language navigation, related articles where the same case was confirmed, consultation guidance, and SEO. The original text and first-published date were preserved.
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