Breached Contract to Manufacture and Sell Patented Products
An overseas inventor successfully arbitrated a contract breach by a South Korean manufacturer over a patented camping product, resulting in damages, attorney's fees, and travel costs awarded for the breach, after navigating legal representation and location challenges.
The Situation
Our client, a foreign citizen, designed and patented an innovative product used for camping. With national and international patents in place, he contracted with a South Korean camping equipment manufacturer, operating in California to manufacture and sell his product. When the manufacturer breached the contract, our client called us.
We demanded arbitration of the dispute as required by the Contact, serving the Notice on the manufacture at its California head office.
According to the terms of the contract, the contract was enforceable under the laws of our client's home nation and subject to arbitration in that county. Despite our suggestion that he retain local counsel to prosecute the case, our client requested that we represent him during the arbitration and the matter proceed.
The Manufacturer retained a well known California law firm to defend it and by agreement of the parties, a retired Supreme Court justice from our client's home country was selected as the arbitrator.
Several months before arbitration, the manufacturer terminated its California attorneys, hired a Barrister in our client's home country and demanded that the arbitration be held in that country, rather than in California as previously agreed.
The Result
As demanded by the manufacturer, the case was heard in our client's home country and following a ten-day arbitration, our client was award damages for the manufacturer's breach, along with his attorneys' fees and costs, including our travel costs.