If a technology is known abroad, will filing a patent application domestically result in patent litigation?

It is highly likely that you will not become involved in patent litigation, but unfortunately, in your case, it is highly likely that obtaining a patent will be difficult.

This is because, among the requirements for a patent, 'novelty' is an important issue.

Because the Korean Intellectual Property Office judges the novelty of a patent as of the time of filing, where a patent application is filed after the invention has become publicly known, the invention is, as a rule, regarded as having lost its novelty.

Accordingly, even where it is a technical creation that exists before filing and is not registered as a patent, what matters is whether it was published and became known at home or abroad before filing.

If an invention was publicly known or publicly worked in Korea or abroad, or was described in a publication distributed at home or abroad, it is deemed to have lost its novelty.

In addition, the same applies to an invention that has become available to the public through telecommunication lines, so a patent or utility model registration cannot be obtained.

Therefore, to assess such issues in detail before proceeding with a patent application, it is advisable to obtain help from a patent attorney and have it reviewed.