As one who deals with Korean courts on at least a weekly basis -- the company I work for has it`s HQ in Korea and we have two long ongoing cases pending -- this legal system is similar in structure to the US system. However, there are Asian diferences that make it difficult to wade through the legal muck. The good news is Korean courts generally recognize established US tradmarks since the major Korean brands are well entrenched in their US categories -- Samsung, Lucky-Goldstar (LG), Hyundai.

Patents tend to be a bit harder.

Remember, much of the manufacturing base for huge Korean growth came 20 to 25 years ago from Japanese management styles which are manufacturing, not marketing, driven. Thus, being a copy cat was not such a big deal to them. The attitude was, ``If we make it, they will buy it.`` At that time, Korean was the low cost labor market (first made in USA, then Japan, then Korea, then Indonesia /Malaysia, now China, one day it will be India & Vietnam}.

I do not know which of our management folks -- RP or Willy -- actually made the decision to a retain Korean legal team, but this was a wise choice. International legal firms in the US have been less than excellent at getting through the Korean system.

Over the past 20 odd years, I have been party to suits against my current employer and worked with them against major US brands, both in US and Korean courts. If they cannot settle the issues face to face, then the legal battle will take a long time. Even small matters we have had before the Korean courts can take 18 to 24 months to resolve.

Let`s hope clearer minds prevail and EDIG settles their problems, Maycon ships to an accepted digEcor schedule, and everyone parts ways with their wallets intact.

All just the opine of one big dumb guy from Tennessee.

John