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South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) says it has won a patent case related to core technology used to build fuel-efficient, LNG-powered ships.

According to the shipyard, a filing by a Japanese company with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) to invalidate DSME's patent for its partial re-liquefaction system (PRS) has been rejected.

DSME has registered the patent for its PRS technology in a number of countries, including China, India and the U.S. The technology was registered in Japan last June.

The shipyard's partial re-liquefaction system is designed to lower costs by reliquefying vaporised LNG gas in the cargo hold as a refrigerant and returning it back to the containment system - thereby making the need for additional power sources and refrigerant compressors unnecessary.

For LNG-fuelled ships, DSME's PRS is said to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.