Seoul Semiconductor’s Former R&D Employee Who Divulged LED Technology Sentenced to Imprisonment
ANSAN, South Korea – Seoul Semiconductor (KOSDAQ: 046890), a leading global innovator of LED products and technology, announced that its former R&D employee (“Kim”, age of 40) who divulged key LED technology was sentenced to imprisonment.
At the end of February, the Incheon Criminal District Court sentenced eight months in prison, two years of probation and 120 hours of community service to a former R&D employee of Seoul Semiconductor, who resigned in December 2014, charged with the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology.
The Court said, “Kim was in charge of technology development at the Seoul Semiconductor’s Process Technology Team at the time, and used LED package technology illegally obtained from Seoul Semiconductor to do a research project with supplier of Seoul Semiconductor. This violated the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology and Kim was convicted”.
Seoul Semiconductor is the world’s second-largest global LED manufacturer, a ranking excluding the captive market, and the only company achieved USD 1 billion of annual revenue in Korean LED industry. It has invested an approximately 10 percent of its sales revenue each year to innovate technology. and has more than 14,000 patents. Seoul Semiconductor also won all 32 patent infringement lawsuits filed in 7 countries including US, Europe, China and Japan over two years in order to actions against companies that we suspect of infringing our patents or of having unlawful access to our trade secrets by soliciting employees.
“If the industry does not respect patented technology, young entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises cannot have the growth opportunity, and they consider relocating manufacturing plant abroad due to low labor cost and operational costs. Regardless of company or individual, this is a meaningful example of showing that anyone who obtains or divulges illegal industrial technology is subject to law,” said Seoul Semiconductor.
About Seoul Semiconductor
Seoul Semiconductor is the world’s second-largest global LED manufacturer, a ranking excluding the captive market, and has more than 14,000 patents. Based on a differentiated product portfolio, Seoul Semiconductor offers a wide range of technologies, and mass produces innovative LED products for indoor and outdoor lighting, automotive, IT products, such as mobile phone, computer displays, and other applications, as well as the UV area. The company’s world’s first development and mass production products are becoming the LED industry standard and leading the global market with a package-free LED, Wicop; a high-voltage AC-driven LED, Acrich; an LED with 10X the output of a conventional LED, nPola; a cutting edge ultraviolet clean technology LED, Violeds; an all direction light emitting technology, filament LED; a natural spectrum LED, SunLike; and more. For more information, please visit www.seoulsemicon.com/en.