A subsidiary of Kiturami was ordered in a first-trial ruling to pay 900 million won for infringing a small business's patent rights.
According to mid-sized business circles and the legal community on the 29th, the Civil Agreement Division 63 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Kyu-young, Director General judge) on the 21st ruled partially in favor of the plaintiff in a suit filed by waste treatment equipment company Bium seeking to ban patent infringement against Kiturami Environmental Tech and CEO Byun Jae-uk, saying, "Pay 900 million won to Bium."
The court also ordered Kiturami Environmental Tech to stop producing and using "Eco Home," a food waste vacuum collection device product, and to discard its inventory.
Bium filed suit in Sep. 2024, saying the "Eco Floor" and "Eco Home" products made by Kiturami Environmental Tech infringed its patents. These products are devices that collect and transport waste such as food waste; Eco Floor receives waste in common areas such as stairwells on each floor, while Eco Home receives waste inside each unit.
The court found that Eco Floor did not infringe the patent, but determined Eco Home was essentially identical to Bium's patented invention.
During the trial, Kiturami Environmental Tech argued, "The Bium side's patent specification is not clear and detailed, so the scope of rights cannot be recognized." But the court did not accept that, saying, "The patented invention is at a level where a person of ordinary skill can fully understand the operational relationships." Kiturami Environmental Tech appealed the ruling.
Bium filed a complaint with the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency in Nov. 2024, accusing Kiturami Environmental Tech of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and the Patent Act, saying it systematically recruited key personnel and stole trade secrets.
After five rounds of complainant interviews, police heard details of the damage and carried out a search and seizure of Kiturami Environmental Tech in Dec. last year, and are analyzing the seized materials. The two companies have also inquired with the Ministry of Intellectual Property to confirm similarities between their food waste vacuum collection device products.