A group that exchanged $1 million (about 1.5 billion won) in return for confidential information related to Samsung Electronics patents has been brought to trial.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Information Technology Crime Investigation Division (Director General Park Kyung-taek) said on the 9th that it had brought to trial five people, including a former Samsung Electronics IP Center employee accused of leaking confidential information related to Samsung Electronics patents and an operator of a non-practicing entity (NPE). An NPE refers to a patent-specialized corporations that, without production facilities or sales organizations, hires a small number of technical experts and litigation attorneys to earn revenue by exercising patent rights.
According to prosecutors, A, formerly of the Samsung Electronics IP Center, is accused of receiving a request from B, an NPE operator, between April and June 2021 asking, "Could you provide internal information so that Samsung Electronics patents can be sold," and handing over Samsung Electronics' patent analysis materials a total of six times from Feb. 2022 to Nov. 2023.
In return, A was found to have received a total of $1 million from B in two installments. A was also charged that day with forging a "foreign exchange wage certificate" last April and submitting it to the Samsung Electronics audit team to conceal the allegation of receiving a large sum from B.
The confidential materials A leaked to B were found to be analysis materials by Samsung Electronics specialists on patents for which the NPE claimed infringement. Before committing the crime, B first filed a claim against Samsung Electronics to prompt Samsung Electronics to review the need to acquire ownership and usage rights to the relevant patents. B then used A's analysis materials in negotiations with Samsung Electronics.
Thanks to this, B was found to have signed a patent contract worth $30 million (about 44.9 billion won) with Samsung Electronics and even prepared to list the NPE corporations. A also reportedly secretly established an NPE company while working at Samsung Electronics.
Prosecutors explained, "For an NPE negotiating with Samsung Electronics to obtain that information is like 'betting in a poker game knowing what hand the opponent holds.'" That means the confidential information A passed to B was used as key information in the negotiation process with Samsung Electronics.
Prosecutors detained the two on Jan. 9. Then on Feb. 2, they indicted A on charges including bribery in breach of duty, violations of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (leaking trade secrets, etc.), and occupational breach of trust, and indicted B on charges of bribery in breach of duty and violations of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
Prosecutors also brought to trial on the day an employee C affiliated with the Samsung Electronics IP Center who handed over internal materials to A. C reportedly leaked the materials despite knowing that what C gave to A would be passed on to B.
According to the two people's in-house messenger chat records obtained by prosecutors, C even advised A while handing over the materials, saying, "Since this is a valuable source for the NPE, demand $5 million in return from the defendant B." C was found to have passed information to A due to personal ties.
According to prosecutors, A and B, who were indicted this time, were domestic IP experts. A worked at LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics, engaging in IP-related work for more than 20 years, and B was also from the NPE Intellectual Discovery, which LG Electronics and the government participated in establishing. Prosecutors said, "They knew better than anyone the weak points of corporations facing NPE offensives."
Director General Park Kyung-taek said, "This case confirmed and punished the illegal acts of an NPE operator who grew a company with a business model of stealing corporations' internal information for private gain," adding, "We have created an opportunity to more robustly protect our corporations' technology asset and economic performance."