Shin & Kim LLC won the Grand Prize for Litigation at the 4th Korea Legal Awards held on June 16 at the Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea.

Shin & Kim was awarded the Grand Prize for winning in a lawsuit between an original medicine company for damages against generic medicines (copies of brand-name drugs) produced in connection with the “policy to reduce medicine prices.”

The above lawsuit is the first case in Korea to question whether a generic medicine company should be liable for damages when the price of the original medicine is reduced due to the introduction of generic medicines that infringe patent rights. Shin & Kim’s argument, on behalf of its client Hanmi Pharm, was admitted by the District Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court. The Court held that the generic medicine company is not obligated to compensate for damages for the price reduction in the original medicine.

The “Korea Legal Awards” is a prestigious legal award that is jointly hosted by Money Today and the Korea In-house Counsel Association and co-sponsored by Money Today theL, Naver Law, the Korean Bar Association, and the Seoul Bar Association. Winners were selected by external board of judges who assessed cases by law firms and lawyers during the year based on innovativeness, public contribution, and symbolism.