hankyoreh

From left to right

A small business has won a lawsuit against large corporations that copied its product ideas.

The outdoor supply company Helinox announced on July 24 that it had won in a lawsuit charging that the LF (formerly LG Fashion) brand Lafuma and K2’s Eider violated the patent on its own Chair One camping chair. In a ruling in March, Seoul Central District Court said LF and K2 were “producing and selling products with all of the component events of a patented invention, which corresponds to infringement of the plaintiff’s [Helinox’s] patent rights on a patented invention.”

LF accepted the verdict in the first trial, while K2’s appeal is currently pending in Seoul High Court.

Helinox‘s issue concerns its patented chair structure. Chair One uses a special device to allow for easy assembly and disassembly of the chair frame. LF and K2 produced camping chairs that copied the mechanism almost exactly. K2 has halted sales of its Elysium product, while LF continues to sell its Light Chair product under the same name on online shopping malls, keeping the same design while replacing the assembly method with one that does not violate a patent.

Small businesses in South Korea rarely win in patent battles with large corporations. According to data from the office of Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Lee Hyun-jae, small businesses lost all 20 cases filed against large corporations over alleged patent infringements between 2009 and 2013. The companies are also responsible for paying for the litigation costs and time. Indeed, Helinox argued that despite the outcome, the litigation costs of 100 million won (US$89,500) and the more than one year spent on the suit were major losses for a small business.

“It’s said that small businesses rarely ever win in patent infringement suits, but we were able to win because we kept a diligent record of patent rights,” said Helinox CEO Ra Young-hwan.

“It’s all too common for big companies to simply copy products that small businesses put their heart and soul into making, while small businesses don’t enjoy adequate protections on their patent and design rights,” Ra said.

By Lee Jeong-yeon, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]