Individual Imprisoned For Selling Samsung’s Display Technology To Chinese Companies
In 2018, a former executive of a mid-size technology company was sentenced to three years in prison by the highest court. This decision was made after he was found guilty of sharing Samsung Display’s edge panel technology with Chinese companies.
Edge panel technology, also known as 3D lamination technology, is used to make the curved screen edges of Samsung smartphones. Samsung required an investment of about 117.7 million dollars and six years of research by 38 engineers to develop the technology, reports Yonhap news agency.
The former CEO and officials of Toptec Co., a mid-sized manufacturing equipment specialist, were charged with leaking technical specifications and technical drawings of edge panel technology they received from Samsung to a separate company in April 2018. They then sold some of the documents to two Chinese companies.
They were also accused, based on technical drawings provided by Samsung, of manufacturing 24 units of 3D lamination production equipment, exporting 16 units to Chinese companies and trying to sell the rest.
The district court had initially found Toptec’s former CEO and officials innocent, so the leaked technology is not a trade secret.
However, the appeals court overturned the decision and sentenced the former CEO to three years in prison on the grounds that the technology is part of the technology classified as frontier technology by the Ministry of Trade and therefore cannot be considered public.
The Court of Appeal also stated that the defendants violated their duty not to leak business secrets.
The Supreme Court sentenced Toptec’s former CEO to three years in prison. Two other Toptec executives also received a final sentence of two years in prison, while the company was fined 100 million won.
