After lengthy 7-year litigation, Chungho won the patent-related lawsuit for the ice purifier.

The patent-related lawsuits between the two companies date back seven years. Chungho Nais, which holds a patent for a cold and hot water purification system and device that can obtain cold water while making ice with an evaporator, filed a lawsuit against C*w*y for infringement of patented technology for ice water purifiers which C*w*y launched a similar product, in 2014.

Then, in 2015, the Seoul Central District Court accepted Chungho Nais’s claim and ordered C*w*y to destroy the related product facilities and compensate 10 billion won in damages. 

C*w*y then requested a trial to invalidate the registration of Chungho Nais’s patented invention with the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board. In response, Chungho Nais responded with a request for correction to change some of the patent contents, such as materializing the contents of the invention and design drawings.

In the process, C*w*y requested a trial to invalidate registration, saying that some of the patent contents corrected by Chungho Nais did not meet the requirements, but the Patent Trial and Appeal Board rejected this.

Afterwards, C*w*y filed a lawsuit with the Patent Court to cancel the decision of the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board, and the Patent Court at the time granted C*w*y’s hand.

In the judgment, the Patent Court dismissed C*w*y ‘s claim, ruling to the effect that Chungho Nais’s ice water purifier technology has an inventive step, which is a patent requirement.

The lawsuit between the two companies went on for several years, and after a long dispute, Chungho won the patent invalidation lawsuit against C*w*y on June 21, 2021.