Jinhee Lee
PartnerIntroduction
Ms. Jinhee Lee is a partner at Shin & Kim.
After graduating from the College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University, and then the graduate school of the same school, Ms. Lee worked at Handok for three years, where she was in charge of pharmaceuticals approval-related work, etc. After passing the bar examination in 2003, during the period between February 2006 and February 2023, Ms. Lee served as a judge/presiding judge at the Supreme Court, the Patent Court, and Seoul Central District Court, to name but a few.
During her career as a judge/presiding judge, Ms. Lee handled a wide range of cases concerning patents, intellectual property rights, medical disputes, as well as insolvency cases, such as rehabilitation and bankruptcy. In addition, Ms. Lee gained extensive experience as a presiding judge in ruling civil, criminal, and family cases.
In particular, while working at the Supreme Court and the Patent Court, she dealt with a number of intellectual property cases related to patents, trademarks, and designs (damage compensation, litigation for revocation of trial decision, etc.), and co-wrote the intellectual property litigation practices and intellectual property rights working manual, which is the working-level book for intellectual property rights, as well as the online Design Protection Act guide book. Also, she published a number of articles on issues that are major themes in patent disputes in the field of pharmaceutical inventions, and in 2022, she earned a doctorate in law from Seoul National University for her dissertation about pharmaceutical inventions.
Areas of Expertise
Professional Career
- 2023-PresentShin & Kim LLC
- 2021-2023Chief judge, Yeongdong Branch, Cheongju District Court
- 2020-2021Judge, Seoul Central District Court
- 2017-2020Judge, Patent Court
- 2015-2017Judge, Anyang Branch Court, Suwon District Court
- 2010-2015Judge, Chuncheon District Court
- 2008-2010Judge, Seoul Eastern District Court
- 2007-2008Judicial researcher, Supreme Court
- 2006-2007Judge, Seoul Central District Court (Division in exclusive charge of health care)
- 2004-2006Judicial Research & Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea
- 1998-2000Handok Pharmaceutical Company
Professional Affiliations
- 2025-PresentVice President, Korean Intellectual Property Lawyers Association (KIPLA)
- 2024-PresentArbitrator, Korean Commercial Arbitration Board
- 2024-PresentOutside Director, GC Biopharma
- 2020-PresentNon-permanent arbitration committee member, Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency
- 2016-2017Non-permanent arbitration committee member, Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency
Key Experience
- Represented client in litigation related to blockbuster drug patent infringement and injunction against infringement
- Represented client in litigation related to drug patent invalidation
- Represented a large company in the third-instance case seeking cancellation of registration of establishment of exclusive license for drug patent
- Represented client in a case of application for suspension of administrative notification on reduction of maximum amount of health insurance drug coverage
- Represented client in a case seeking cancellation of administrative notification on reduction of maximum amount of health insurance drug coverage
- Advised on litigation strategy in a drug patent infringement appeal case
- Advised a pharmaceutical company on patent dispute
- Represented client in a case of provisional injunction against employee transfer
- Represented client in a case seeking cease and desist of copyright infringement
- Represented client in a case seeking cancellation of disposition of reduction of medical care benefits of medical institutions
- Involved in the case of violation of the Medical Service Act
Education
- 2017-2022Seoul National University Graduate School of Law (J.D., Intellectual Property Rights Law)
- 2015-2017Seoul National University Graduate School of Law (LL.M., Intellectual Property Rights Law)
- 2013-2014The George Washington University Law School, Visiting Scholar
- 1996-1998Seoul National University School of Pharmacy (Master’s degree, Microorganisms and Pharmaceutical Chemistry)
- 1992-1996Seoul National University School of Pharmacy (Phar.B)
Qualifications
- 2006Admitted to bar, Korea
- 1996Licensed Pharmacist, Korea
Languages
Korean, English
Professional Activities
Seminars and Lectures
- Lectured for 22nd Intellectual Property Training Institute, Seoul Bar Association (February 2025)
- Lectured for 21st Intellectual Property Training Institute, Seoul Bar Association (February 2024)
- Discussion on “Assessment of Inventive Step in Pharmaceutical Use Inventions”, 2024 Patent Court’s Bench & Bar Conference (January 2024)
- Lectured on "Trends of Crystalline Compound Technology", 2024 New Technology Training for Patent Office Examiners
- Presented "Recent Trends in Pharmaceutical Invention Patents and Corporate Response Strategy", Shin & Kim’s 2023 Seminar
- Lectured on "Drug Inventions and Patent Disputes", Second Half Advanced Course Training in 2023 of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
- Presented "An Analysis of Pharmaceutical Foreign Patent Cases", 2023 Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Policy Forum, Hosted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
Publications
- Experimental Use of Pharmaceutical Patented Inventions and Limitations on Patent Rights Enforcement – THE JUSTICE, Vol. 201 (Korean Society of Law, 2024)
- Pharmaceutical Inventions: Specification Requirements and Inventive Step, Beopmunsa (2023)
- Pharmaceutical Inventions and Reasonable Expectation of Success – Focused on the discussions in the U.S. – THE JUSTICE, Vol. 193 (Korean Society of Law, 2022)
- Intellectual Property Litigation Practices (co-authored, Pakyoungsa)
- ONJU Design Protection Act (co-authored, Lawnb)
- Intellectual Property Rights Trial Practices Guide Book (co-authored, Intellectual Property Rights Guide Book Writing Committee)
- Pharmaceutical Inventions: Specification Requirements and Inventive Step for Medical Inventions, J.D. dissertation for Seoul National University School of Law (2022)
- An Invention Eligible for Patent Term Extension: The Meaning of “New Substance” under Article 7(i) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Patent Act, Judicature (Judicial Development Foundation, 2022)
- Significant Geographical Names as Grounds for Invalidation of Trademark Registration, Collection of Dissertations in Commemoration of Chief Justice Jae Hyeong Kim (Judicial Development Foundation, 2022)
- Determining the Novelty and Inventive Step of Medical Use Inventions Having Clinical Trial Protocol as Prior Art, LAW & TECHNOLOGY Vol. 16, No. 3 (Seoul National University Technology and Law Center, 2020)
- Written Description Requirements for Selection Inventions, Judicature (Judicial Development Foundation, 2019)
- Determining the Inventive Step of Parameter Inventions – Patent Court Decision 2017heo3720 ruled on January 25, 2019, LAW & TECHNOLOGY Vol. 15, No. 4 (Seoul National University Technology and Law Center, 2019)
- Calculation of Damages for Infringement on Standard Essential Patent Rights, LAW & TECHNOLOGY Vol. 14, No. 5 (Seoul National University Technology and Law Center, 2019)
- Written Description Requirements for and Inventive Step of Pharmaceutical Use Inventions, Collection of Dissertations Published in Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Patent Court (2018)
- Patentability of Medical Use Inventions, Seoul National University School of Law Master’s Thesis (2017)
- Gene Cloning of Arylsulfate Sulfotransferase from Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 13311 Strain, Seoul National University School of Pharmacy Master’s Thesis (1998)