70-Year-Old Arsonist Set Fires Over Demand for Physical Patent Certificate

A man in his 70s who sequentially set fire to two buildings in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, injuring 19 people, reportedly committed the crime out of an obsession with obtaining a physical paper patent certificate.

In an interview with a media outlet, a patent attorney from the patent corporation that suffered fire damage yesterday (October 20) stated that the suspect, identified as A, had demanded a physical paper certificate after registering a design patent in Europe through the firm.

As European authorities issue only electronic registration decisions instead of physical certificates for environmental protection and other reasons, the patent firm repeatedly explained that he could simply print out the documents and use them. However, A, who wanted to hang the physical patent certificate on his living room wall, grew resentful when he failed to receive the paper certificate, claiming that the firm had defrauded him.

The victimized patent attorney said, "A had a strong obsession with hanging the registration certificate on his wall, and he continuously raised hard-to-understand complaints without comprehending the electronic document printing method itself."

In fact, while being arrested and escorted by the police, A flashed printouts of text messages exchanged with the firm to reporters and claimed that he had been scammed.

Police investigations revealed that A had a past record of being arrested in 2022 after visiting the same patent corporation for the same reason and threatening employees by splashing gasoline.

A sequentially set fire to two buildings in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, starting around 11:50 a.m. yesterday. The fires resulted in 19 casualties, including one patent attorney who was transported in a state of cardiac arrest.

Police plan to apply for an arrest warrant for A on charges of arson resulting in injury to an inhabited building.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.