(Source: Pilot)
Crown Ball Pen has failed to obtain a ruling that its products do not infringe a patent owned by Japan's Pilot Corporation, after the Korean Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (KIPTAB) dismissed its non-infringement petition.
In a decision issued on October 22, 2025, the Board dismissed Crown Ball Pen's request for a scope confirmation trial concerning Pilot's patent titled "Thermally Changeable Color Writing Tool" (KR1495366).
The patent, originally filed by Pilot Ink but later transferred to Pilot Corporation, covers a writing tool with thermally changeable ink that allows users to modify or erase marks through frictional heat.
A scope confirmation trial — also known as a non-infringement confirmation trial — is a proceeding in which a company seeks an official determination that its product does not fall within the scope of another party's patent.
Crown Ball Pen filed the petition in October 2024, and the Board issued its decision roughly a year later.
The decision follows an earlier non-infringement confirmation trial filed by Crown Ball Pen in November 2023 against claim 29 of the same patent, which the Board also dismissed on September 27, 2024.
Separately, Crown Ball Pen initiated a patent invalidation trial against the same patent on September 2, 2024, arguing that claims 29 and 33 were invalid. In September 2025, the Board partially sided with Crown Ball Pen — invalidating claim 29 while upholding claim 33. Neither party appealed that ruling to the Patent Court, and the decision therefore became final and binding.
▷Related Article: Pilot and Crown Ball Pen Clash Over Thermochromic Ink Patent (2024. 11. 12.)
By PatenTrip
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