Apple’s Korean Office Paid Compensation to a South Korean User for iPhone Location Tracking – So Does This Mean Korean Court Made an End to the Legal Fight?

July 15, 2011

It was reported that last month Apple’s South Korean office paid $945 of compensation to a South Korean iPhone user for the breaching of privacy by the controversial iPhone user location tracking.  Here is the detail from Reuters.

By the way, some news providers reported that this was the ruling from a Korean district court.  I, as a Korean lawyer, think that statement is half right and half wrong.  Basically it is true that the court issued a ruling which ordered the Apple Korea to pay $945 to the user.  But this was not the formal trial case, but a Request for a Payment Order case.  Payment order is much convenient & simplified legal procedures for claimant to get a judgment from the court compared to a formal lawsuit.  Once a request filed, the Korean court does not question the debtor (in this case, the Apple Korea) and issue a Payment Order within 2 or 4 weeks (in certain courts, within a few days). This payment order, a sort of ruling, asks the opposing party to choose whether to admit the claim as written on the request or to make an objection.  If no objection has been raised from the opposing party within 2 weeks, then Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Civil Case, Corporate, Entertainment Business, Entire Entries, Intellectual Property, IT, Korean Lawyer, Law Firms, Legal News, Litigation | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by chungwi

[Q&A] Employee’s Act of Adultery and Its Legal Implication to the Employer under Korean Law

August 10, 2009

We’ve been asked about a criminal charge against an adultery under Korean criminal law quite often.  Foreign employees in Korean should be cautious that such an adultery is a crime under Korean law.  Here is a real example of such a case where a foreign officer committed an adultery and the company(employer)’s legal concern made it ask some legal consultations to our law firm regarding the adultery law and criminal law process in Korea.

Q) Mr. XX, who is a head director of our company, committed an adultery and was charged by the Korean prosecutor.  He has confessed his guilty and the prosecutor demanded one year’s imprisonment for his crime to the court.  If the court finalize that Mr. XX is guilty, is that means that Mr. XX will be imprisonment for one year or lesser?

A) Finding guilty does not always mean Mr. XX will be imprisoned.  The Court may SUSPEND the imprisonment for certain years even though Mr. XX is guilty.  The Korean Criminal Act provides that a married person who commits adultery shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years.  However, the Act also provides the execution of the sentence for an adultery can be Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment | Business in Korea, Corporate, Criminal Case, Entire Entries, Korean Lawyer, Law Firms | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by chungwi

Chung & Partners Successfully Represented Renowned U.S company in Policing Intellectual Property in Korea

July 18, 2009

Recently, Mr. Wonil Chung, a partner at Chung & Partners, has successfully represented NHS, Inc., an internationally renowned U.S. company which sells skateboards, apparel under various trademarked brand worldwide, in policing their trademark in South Korea.  NHS, Inc. and its Korean distributor had found that counterfeits of SantaCruz, one of the NHS, Inc.’s premium brand, had been made and sold in numerous online shopping mall sites in Korea.  They requested Mr. Wonil Chung to stop them from selling the counterfeits.  Mr. Wonil Chung sent cease and desist letters to the online shopping sites which sold the counterfeits, notifying Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Business in Korea, Entertainment Business, Entire Entries, Intellectual Property, Korean Lawyer, Law Firms | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by chungwi

Foreign Law Firms to Open Local Branch in Korea – Foreign Legal Consultant Act Passed in Korea

March 28, 2009

We’ve been asked about this issue from U.S. lawyers or U.S. law school students quite often.  As reported earlier this month, the Foreign Legal Consultant Act was approved by the National Assembly.  The Act allows law firms from the United States and countries which have free trade agreements with Korea to set up local branches to provide legal consulting services.

However, in order to qualify as local consultants, foreign firms will not be allowed to hire locally qualified lawyers. Foreign lawyers cannot be self-employed consultants, Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Entire Entries, Korean Lawyer, Law Firms | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by chungwi

Fund Buyers Keep Filing Lawsuits against Fund-Sellers Alleging So-called “Irresponsible Sale”

March 19, 2009

Recently there can be seen so many lawsuits are being filed against domestic banks with regard to the bank’s irresponsible fund sale.  The Korean fund buyers are alleging the losses in the funds which are still on-going were caused by the fund-sellers’ not informing sufficient information on the risk and possibilities of losses when they put the money to the funds.

As a matter of law, Korean court has ruled that the banks are obliged to inform the customer of the structure of the investment such as fund or option transaction and the risk of possible losses sufficiently when they solicit the customers for investments.  If they neglect that obligation, it constitutes a breach of contract and Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Banking & Financing, Business in Korea, Civil Case, Corporate, Entire Entries, Korean Lawyer, Law Firms, Legal News, Litigation, Securities | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by chungwi

Chung & Partners Succesfully Defended its Client in a High Profile Criminal Case

December 20, 2008

Last September, Supreme Porsecutors Office(SPO) investigated the ex-head of Military Mutual Aid Association(MMAA) and his son as they had received 30,000 stocks of Kenertec, a Korean Energy company, from its representative in response to securing investments from the MMAA.

Mr. Wonil Chung, a partner of Chung & Partners, represented the son and succeeded in making the SPO drop the charge and not prosecuting him.

Afterward, the SPO prosecuted only the ex-head of MMAA to the court, but last Friday, Seoul Central District Court sentenced not guilty stating there is no evidence that supports there had happened any illegal activities.

Under Korean Criminal Law, a person who, administering other’s business, receives property or obtains advantage from a 3rd party in response to an illegal solicitation concerning his duty, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 5 yeard or by a fine not exceeding 10 million won.

Established in 1984 as a special organization under the Ministry of National Defense, the MMAA administers assistance for military personnel and veterans. It has 160,000 members and its assets are valued at 7.8 trillion won ($5.94 billion).  The organization has seven businesses and recorded a total profit of 153.7 billion won last year.

This case had drawn big attentions within Korean society because of the MMAA’s powerful position in Korea’s financing & investment market and new government and SPO’s attempt to scrape out public enterprises’ corruption.  But at least in this case, Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Criminal Case, Entire Entries, Korean Lawyer, Law Firms, Legal News, Litigation | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by chungwi

Samsung Set To Appeal $2.4 Billion Repayment Ruling

February 25, 2008

In January 31, the Seoul Central District Court ordered the Samsung Group to repay more than 2.33 trillion won ($2.46 billion) to the 14 creditors of its defunct Samsung Motors, which was the country’s biggest-ever financial civil lawsuit.  Samsung Group said yesterday that it will appeal that court ruling.

Samsung Motors applied for a court-administered debt restructuring program in June 1999, and Chairman Lee Kun Hee announced his plan to inject private money. Two months later, Samsung signed a deal with the creditors to cover a 2.45 trillion won debt by the end of 2000. Under the agreement, Lee handed over his 3.5 million shares of the unlisted Samsung Life Insurance Co. to the creditors and promised to list the company. However the insurance firm never went public, and creditors were unable to convert all their share to cash due to the large volume. Creditors filed a lawsuit in December 2005, claiming 5 trillion won including penalties.

One of the biggest issues on this trial was the validity of the agreement between Samsung Group and the creditors. Samsung Group alleged that the agreement is void because it was entered under duress. However the court rejected it.

As I’m a lawyer, it was very interesting who would represent Samsung Group and the creditors. There Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Business in Korea, Civil Case, Corporate, Entire Entries, Law Firms, Legal News, Litigation | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by chungwi

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.