IP High Court Decision, 2021Na1374 (Case Concerning Payment System Using Mobile Device)

This case concerns whether the technology practiced by the defendant (hereinafter “the defendant’s technology”) falls within the scope of rights of the plaintiff’s patented invention, specifically focusing on the interpretation of the claims of the patented invention, in a case where the plaintiff seeks an injunction for patent infringement. If the specific technical details cannot be identified when determining the scope of protection for a patented invention from the terms in the claims, even if they are clear, the technological composition expressed by these terms shall be determined by referring to the descriptions and the drawings of the invention to define the scope of protection of the patented invention. The technical composition expressed by the term ‘payment request device’ in the claims of the patented invention shall be determined objectively and rationally by referring to the entire descriptions or drawings in the specification, along with the claims of the patented invention. In this regard, the technology practiced by the defendant does not fall within the scope of rights of the patented invention, as the technological composition is indeed limited to a payment request device ‘of the seller (or controlled by the seller)’ and is not equipped with an identical or equivalent technological composition to that of ‘payment request device’ as in the patented invention.