The main culprit of Samsung Display’s OLED technology leak, which is worth more than 300 billion won, has been handed over to trial in three years. The main culprit, A, who fled to China, entered the country voluntarily in May, more than three years later, and the prosecution, who resumed the investigation immediately after that, arrested A last month. The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office’s Defense Business and Industrial Technology Crime Investigation Department (chief prosecutor) announced on the 10th that it has arrested A (49) on charges of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. A, a former senior researcher at Samsung’s facility development team, is accused of fraudulently acquiring and using OLED display ELA (Examiner Laser Analysis) facilities and OCR inkjet facilities-related technologies (adhesive OLED display panels and glass outside the screen) to sell and provide them to Chinese companies from 2018 to May 2020. The ELA facility inversion optical meter is a device that maintains the strength and safety of lasers that are fired into OLED display electronic circuits. The prosecution found that the technology corresponds to a trade secret worth at least 340 billion won. A is an OLED display expert who has worked at Samsung Display for more than 10 years, and after retirement, he established and operated display companies B and C in China. It was investigated that he tried to sell and provide technology to Chinese companies through Company C after stealing Samsung’s OLED display technology to Company B.
It was revealed that while working at Samsung Display, Mr. A attracted juniors, subordinates and friends to the crime, diverted trade secrets to Company B, and imitated the technology of the victim company.
Five people who conspired with A were indicted in August 2020, and three of them, including former Samsung Display researcher, were sentenced to one to two years in prison and two, including friends, were sentenced to probation.
TED PARK
US ASIA JOURNAL
