Back-to-back hearings will be held on the 15th in the case of a former employee indicted on charges of handing over internal materials related to Samsung Electronics patents to an outside patent management company and receiving $1 million (about 1.5 billion won). The core issues of the legal nature of the materials, including whether they constitute trade secrets, and whether they were actually used in negotiations are expected to be addressed in earnest.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 10 single-judge panel (Presiding Judge Lee Jae-uk, senior judge) will hold consecutive hearings in the case involving alleged violations of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act by a person surnamed Kwon and others in the afternoon. Earlier, prosecutors in Feb. indicted Kwon and a patent management company head, a person surnamed Lim, and in Mar., additionally sent another former Samsung Electronics employee, related individuals, and a corporation to trial.
According to prosecutors, between 2021 and 2023, Kwon is accused of passing outside patent analysis materials, negotiation response strategies, and internal review documents prepared by the Samsung Electronics IP Center and receiving $1 million in return. The patent management company that received the materials is believed to have used them to gain an advantage in negotiations with Samsung Electronics and to have concluded a patent deal worth about $30 million.
During the investigation, prosecutors were also said to have found indications that Kwon was involved in establishing another patent management company to prepare additional patent attacks, and that Kwon submitted forged documents to conceal the circumstances of foreign currency remittances.
At an earlier hearing, Kwon's side largely acknowledged parts of the facts, such as the exchange of money, but argued that the materials passed along were not trade secrets or protected information under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. Lim's side likewise did not deny receiving the materials but countered that the documents at issue did not concern Samsung Electronics' proprietary technology and instead related to patents held by the patent management company.
At the hearing on the additional indictment case that day, the key issue is expected to be how far the collusion extended in the analysis, transmission, and negotiation use processes after the leak of the materials. Prosecutors believe that another former Samsung Electronics employee even exchanged materials via the in-house messenger and offered advice to demand a higher negotiation amount.