Kolmar Korea has won a technology theft lawsuit against global cosmetics company Intercos. Intercos Korea, an Italian cosmetics company with operations around the world, was accused of stealing the company’s sunscreen formula.
The Seoul Central District Court’s 62nd Civil Division recently ruled in favor of Kolmar Korea in the first phase of a civil lawsuit for a trade secret injunction filed by Kolmar Korea against Intercos Korea and its former researchers, according to Kolmar Korea. The court ordered Intercos Korea to destroy the company’s trade secrets and former Kolmar Korea employees and Intercos Korea to pay a total of 200 million won (US$150,342), plus delayed interest.
Someone referred to as “Person A” had joined Kolmar Korea in 2008 and worked for the company for nine years and four months before leaving in January 2018 to move to the United States. However, just a week after leaving Kolmar Korea, Person A was transferred to the Korean subsidiary of Italian cosmetics company Intercos. Person A took hundreds of key sunscreen technology files from the laptop he used at Kolmar Korea and uploaded them to Google Drive. Another person, referred to as “Person B,” who worked for Kolmar Korea from 2007 to 2012, joined Intercos Korea in 2018 and also attempted to steal key technology by illegal means.
In the second trial of the criminal case, Persons A and B were sentenced to 10 months and 6 months in prison, respectively, and both also received 2 years of probation. Intercos Korea was also fined 10 million won.