IP Advisory
Strategic IP counsel for companies building, buying, or defending positions in Korea — portfolio strategy, freedom-to-operate, due diligence, and dispute advisory, delivered with the precision MOIP practice demands.
Rights are only as valuable as the strategy behind them. LIDAM advises foreign companies and their counsel on how patent, trademark, and design portfolios in Korea should be shaped, cleared, valued, and — when necessary — defended, aligning each decision with commercial objectives rather than filing volume.
We work as an extension of your team: framing the questions that matter before a product launch, an investment round, or a demand letter, and delivering findings you can act on. Where a matter becomes contentious, our of-counsel litigation capability (a licensed attorney-at-law) supports enforcement and defense before Korean tribunals.
Portfolio strategy, freedom-to-operate and IP due diligence for companies entering or operating in Korea.
Portfolio strategy
Map your Korean IP against business goals — where to file, what to keep as trade secret, how to prune, and how to sequence patent, trademark, and design rights so the portfolio supports products, partnerships, and future funding.
Freedom-to-operate (FTO)
Assess whether a product or process can be commercialized in Korea without infringing third-party rights. We search live patents and pending applications, analyze claim scope, and identify design-around, licensing, or clearance options.
IP due diligence
For M&A, investment, and licensing, we verify what rights actually exist and transfer — ownership chains, validity risks, encumbrances, MOIP status, and enforceability — and translate the findings into deal terms and representations.
Licensing & dispute advisory
Advise on in- and out-licensing, cross-licensing, and responses to warnings or infringement claims — weighing invalidation, non-infringement, negotiation, and, with our of-counsel litigator, formal proceedings.
Four steps, one point of contact.
Scoping
We define the question, jurisdiction, products, and risk tolerance, and agree the deliverable and timeline before work begins — so effort is spent where it changes decisions.
Analysis & search
Prior-art and patent searches, claim charting, chain-of-title and status checks against MOIP records, and legal analysis by attorneys who prosecute in Korea daily.
Findings & risk report
A clear written report: what we found, how the rights read on your facts, the level and nature of each risk, and the assumptions and limits of the analysis.
Strategy & next steps
Concrete recommendations — design-around, licensing, invalidation, filing, or escalation — prioritized by impact, with cost and timing considerations and a path forward.
FTO is not patentability
Patentability asks whether your invention is new enough to be granted; freedom-to-operate asks whether making or selling it infringes someone else's live rights. A patented product can still infringe another patent.
Due diligence protects deals
In M&A and funding, IP due diligence confirms that the target actually owns transferable, valid rights — surfacing ownership gaps, invalidity, and encumbrances before they become post-closing liabilities.
Korea offers real remedies
Right holders and accused parties can pursue invalidation and scope-confirmation trials at the IP Trial and Appeal Board and infringement or non-infringement actions in the courts — often in parallel.
Litigation support in-house
Beyond prosecution, LIDAM has of-counsel litigation capability — a licensed attorney-at-law — so advisory work transitions smoothly into enforcement or defense when a dispute is unavoidable.
When should we run an FTO analysis?
Before committing to a Korean launch, a major product design, or manufacturing investment — early enough that design-arounds or licenses are still practical and inexpensive to implement.
We're entering the Korean market. Where do we start?
Typically with a portfolio review and an FTO screen for the specific products — confirming your own protection while clearing the path against third-party rights before spend is committed.
How are IP rights enforced in Korea?
Through MOIP/IPTAB trials on validity and scope and civil actions for infringement, injunctions, and damages. We advise on strategy and, with our of-counsel litigator, on formal proceedings.
Can you work alongside our existing counsel?
Yes. We regularly serve as Korea-side advisors coordinating with foreign in-house teams and outside counsel, providing the local analysis and prosecution or dispute support they need.
Not sure which route fits? Ask us.
Describe your matter and we’ll map the MOIP route, timeline and cost — with a fixed quote.