The Korean Bar Association urged the National Assembly to "immediately scrap" a bill to revise the Patent Attorney Act that would grant patent attorneys a "privilege of confidentiality."
In a statement released on the 17th under the name of Association President Kim Jeong-uk, the bar said, "The Patent Attorney Act revision shakes the foundations of Korea's judicial system and is a poison-pill bill that provides corporations engaged in technology theft with a lawful 'shield for concealing evidence.'"
The Patent Attorney Act revision passed the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee on the 12th on and is pending in The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
The bar described patent-attorney privilege as "the right not to disclose to courts or investigative agencies the contents of consultations or related materials exchanged between a patent attorney and a client."
The stated reason for introducing it is "protection of corporate technology," but in reality, when a technology dispute erupts, it would allow corporations to lawfully hide key evidence, the bar said.
The bar said that if patent attorneys are granted a privilege of confidentiality, then in the process of large corporations misappropriating small companies' technology, various internal documents—such as theft planning drafts exchanged with patent attorneys or records indicating plagiarism—would become lawfully concealable as "confidential consultation materials."
It added, "The revision expands the scope of nondisclosure to the stages of investigation and inquiry," and "it undermines legitimate investigations by police and the Korea Fair Trade Commission, blocking the search for substantive truth and seriously damaging judicial justice."
The bar called it "a 'kill the underdog' law that helps large corporations hide their theft of small companies' technology," adding, "It will drive small companies to the brink."
It continued, "By neutralizing the Korean-style discovery system (Discovery, evidence disclosure system) under discussion to resolve evidentiary asymmetry, it will fundamentally block small companies' practical relief of rights," adding, "It would only create a litigation environment overwhelmingly favorable to capital-rich large corporations."
Attorneys gained a privilege of confidentiality under the revised Attorney‑at‑Law Act that took effect on Feb. 20. The bar said, "The privilege of confidentiality is a constitutional institution to guarantee the people's right to defense against state power in criminal procedures," adding, "Granting it to patent attorneys, who lack authority to conduct criminal cases, distorts the essence of the system."