Korea Intellectual Property Office says amendments broaden trade-secret penalties

The Korea Intellectual Property Office said that parliament had passed amendments broadening penalties for trade-secret infringement, covering brokers who arrange employee moves for leaks and the hacking of trade secrets.

The amendments, passed at a National Assembly plenary session on Aug. 20, add the introduction, arrangement and inducement of trade-secret infringement as a separate category of violation.

Technology leaks have frequently involved moving companies' key personnel to competitors, while brokers posing as recruitment agents have also actively participated, the office said. Before the amendments, there was no direct legal basis to punish such recruitment arrangements, and applying criminal provisions on instigation or aiding was difficult. Such conduct was punished as unregistered or unlicensed job-placement activity. The new provisions allow injunctions, damages claims, reporting rewards and criminal penalties to be applied to brokers who arrange an employee's move on the premise of leaking trade secrets.

"We expect the amendment to enable more comprehensive regulation of technology-leak crimes throughout the process, from preparations for trade-secret infringement to acquisition, use and disclosure," Kim Yong-seon, head of the Korea Intellectual Property Office, said.

The previous law centered on conventional methods of acquiring trade secrets, including theft, fraud and threats, prompting calls for clearer treatment of cyberattacks. The amendments explicitly designate hacking as an improper means of acquiring trade secrets. Acquiring another party's trade secrets through hacking is expressly defined as an infringement subject to punishment.

They also remove the need to separately prove an improper purpose when someone who improperly obtained trade secrets uses them or discloses them to a third party. Previously, a separate improper purpose had to be established.