By Lee Kyung-min
The Supreme Court is considering setting up an international tribunal under the Patent Court, in which trials will proceed in English or other foreign languages.
If established, such a tribunal will be the first in Asia. Outside Asia, only Germany and Switzerland have similar systems, according to the Supreme Court.
To date, foreigners in local court trials have spoken to judges through translators, so they were often misrepresented. Verdicts were also not provided in their own languages.
Under the proposed system, however, they can present their arguments in text format to judges for their better understanding, and can get translated versions of verdicts.
These services would be provided in English, French, German and other languages, the court said.
A judge from the Supreme Court said its internal committee is positively considering the system, and will decide on when to start the service.
The plan is to meet the growing number of patent cases involving foreigners here.
“We hope this plan will serve as the role model for other countries, although the details of the plan will be deliberated further,” the judge said.
The internal committee held its second meeting Monday to discuss how to implement the system, he said.
The panel is co-headed by Patent Court chief Kang Young-ho, Rep. Kim Dong-wan of the ruling Saenuri Party and Rep. Park Beom-kye of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.
Its other members include lawmakers, judges, law school professors and officials from the Ministry of Justice.
Judges assigned to preside over such cases will be those who are able to communicate with foreigners, according to the committee.
Further discussions will focus on choosing judges for these trials and establishing translation services.
The most difficult part could be to hire qualified translators with extensive legal knowledge, officials said.
In a related move, the committee is discussing measures to allow foreigners staying abroad to participate in trials here.
The measure includes allowing foreigners who live abroad to attend court hearings in the form of teleconferencing, as well as providing them with interpretation services.
The committee’s third meeting is scheduled for late next month.