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South Korea Fines Rubber Companies $6 Million

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 04.12.07

The South Korea Fair Trade Commission has imposed a $6 million fine on two synthetic rubber companies for alleged price collusion. The Commission said that Kumho Petrochemical and Seetec Ltd. colluded to raise the prices of synthetic rubber used to make tires. The two companies supply 91% of the country’s total demand for synthetic rubber and hiked prices by 12%-18% four times over a three year period ending in March 2003. 

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Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.26.25

From ‘Second’ to ‘First:’ Federal Circuit Tackles Obvious Claim Errors

Patent claims must be clear and definite, as they set the boundaries of the patentee’s rights. Occasionally, however, claim language contains errors, such as typographical mistakes or incorrect numbering. Courts possess very limited authority to correct such errors. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has emphasized that judicial correction is appropriate only in rare circumstances, where (1) the error is evident from the face of the patent, and (2) the proposed correction is the sole reasonable interpretation in view of the claim language, specification, and prosecution history. See Group One, Ltd. v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., 407 F.3d 1297, 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) and Novo Indus., L.P. v. Micro Molds Corp., 350 F.3d 1348, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2003)....