Hyeon Gil Ryoo is a managing partner of Lee & Ko’s IP Prosecution Group. After receiving a degree in Chemical Technology, he began his legal career in IP prosecution when he joined a patent firm in Korea, where most of his work involved filing patent applications for registration, including drafting patent specifications. When he joined Lee & Ko in 2004, he focused his practice in patent and trademark litigation and enforcement.

Mr. Ryoo is also a senior IP litigator, and his expertise in IP litigation covers all venues, including prosecution matters before the Korean Intellectual Property Office, invalidation, cancellation and scope confirmation trials before the Industrial Property Tribunal and the Patent Court, and infringement actions before the judicial courts.

In particular, Mr. Ryoo represented numerous clients in the areas of technical fields, including pharmaceutical, polymer, chemical, mechanical and software industries. Some of the notable cases he has handled in the past are:

1) Represented Berna Biotech and Novartis against GlaxoSmithKline in a patent invalidation action to invalidate a multivalent vaccine-related patent;
2) Represented FiberVision against Kolon Glotech in a patent dispute over a patent related to non-woven fabric;
3) Represented LG Hausys against 3M Company in patent infringement and invalidation disputes involving adhesive products for decorative use.
4) Represented ExxonMobil in a patent dispute against SK over a patent on microporous film used as a separator for lithium ion batteries;
5) Represented Microsoft in a patent infringement against a distributor of plug-in program for web browsers;
6) Represented LG against OSRAM in offensive and defensive patent infringement actions related to LED technology;
7) Represented Samsung against Apple in patent infringement action concerning standard-essential patents;
8) Represented Samsung Heavy Industries in its defense against Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling in a patent infringement lawsuit;
9) Represented LG Chemicals against Dow Chemical in a patent dispute involving patents related to polyethylene.

In addition to patent disputes, Mr. Ryoo has also represented clients in cases such as a criminal matter related to telecommunication service patent, a leakage of trade secrets related to photoresist for manufacturing LCD’s and a leakage of trade secrets related to antibiotics and their intermediates.

Mr. Ryoo holds a B.S. in Chemical Technology from Seoul National University and an LL.M. from University of Washington School of Law. He is admitted to the Korean Patent Bar and Korean Bar.