Court Orders Seizure of Four Patent Rights of Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

The court has decided to seize four domestic patents applied for by four plaintiffs who are victims of forced labor under Japanese colonial rule against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Yang Geum-deok, a plaintiff in the lawsuit for victims of the forced labor military comfort women, held a press conference on the 6th of last month at the 5.18 Democracy Square in Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, criticizing the government's 'third-party compensation plan.'
[Photo by Min Hyun-gi]

According to the Citizens' Group for Forced Labor under Japanese Colonial Rule on the 5th, the Daejeon District Court decided on the 3rd to seize four domestic patents applied for by four plaintiffs, including grandmother Kim Jaerim from the Comfort Women lawsuit, against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit claiming damages against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at the Gwangju District Court in February 2014 and May of the following year, winning in both the first and second trials, but the Supreme Court's judgment has been delayed for over four years.

The victims who won in the first and second trials had secured the 'provisional execution right' to enforce the compensation amount, but considering various circumstances, they had postponed the provisional execution.

However, since it is uncertain when the Supreme Court ruling will be finalized and recently the government even announced a third-party payment plan, distorting the purpose of their lawsuit, they have decided to proceed with the enforcement procedure this time.

The seizure targets are a total of four patents, one domestic patent of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries per plaintiff.

The total claim amount for the four plaintiffs, including the compensation amount and delayed interest announced in the first trial ruling, is about 687 million KRW, and according to the court's seizure decision, the debtor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is prohibited from selling, transferring, or disposing of the relevant patents in any way.

Following this seizure decision by the Daejeon District Court, it is understood that the number of domestic assets owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries undergoing enforcement procedures has increased to a total of 12, including 2 trademark rights and 10 patent rights.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.