According to a recent ruling by the Seoul Administrative Court, only those who have completed the registration process as patent attorneys can represent clients in trademark cancellation trials. The ruling was made in a lawsuit where A had appointed lawyer B to represent him in a trademark cancellation trial against C at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. However, B had only passed the bar exam and had not completed the registration process as a patent attorney.
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board had demanded that A submit additional documents and pay a fee to continue with the trial. When A failed to submit the required documents, the Board extended the submission deadline and requested that B provide proof of his registration as a patent attorney. B submitted an application for a patent customer number, but the Board rejected it, stating that the application must be submitted to the Korea Patent Attorneys Association in accordance with the Patent Attorneys Act.
The Board then extended the submission deadline again and requested that A provide the patent customer number for his representative, but A did not comply. As a result, the Board ruled the trademark cancellation trial invalid. A filed a lawsuit, claiming that the law does not limit the qualifications of representatives in such trials and that the Board's demand for a patent attorney registration was invalid.
The court ruled that the Patent Attorneys Act applies to trademark cancellation trial representation and that only those who have completed the registration process as a patent attorney can represent clients in such trials. The court also stated that the Patent Attorneys Act is a special law that applies to trademark cancellation trial representation and that the Bar Association Act and the Civil Procedure Act do not apply in this case.