Major countries such as the United States and Europe prohibit acts of working on patent invention without the permission of the patentee, stipulating the acts as a direct infringement, prohibit the acts which are not direct infringement but may indirectly infringe the related patent if it is neglected, and also, continue to expand the range of indirect infringement to enhance the effectiveness of patent protection.

Since Korea's indirect infringement provisions are for exclusive things (used only for the production of a patent invention), there has been criticism that the scope of the patent invention protection is too narrow compared to major countries. For example, since the act of transferring 3D printing data scanned with a patented product is not a transfer of the actual article, it cannot be prevented by the patent; since an article having a utility in addition to patent invention is not an exclusive thing, it cannot be prevented even if it is produced or assigned for use in infringement of the patent; since the act informing or designing a formulation, which allows infringement of a patented product, includes no direct provision of the article used for infringement, it cannot be prevented by the patent.

Therefore, the amendment is to strengthen the protection of patentees by expanding the scope of indirect infringement so that a case that is not an exclusive thing also may be the subject of indirect infringement but requires application only if the case has an intention to prevent reckless application (Article 127).

Acts Constituting the Infringement of Patent or Exclusive License (Article 127)