[2020 National Audit] Small and Medium Enterprises' Reports of Technology Theft by Large Corporations Dismissed in 9 out of 10 Cases

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] It has been revealed that even when small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) report large corporations' technology misappropriation to the Fair Trade Commission, administrative measures are taken in only 1 out of 10 cases.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Kim Kyung-man, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, and SMEs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, among 97 cases of technology misappropriation reported to the Fair Trade Commission over the past five years, only 9.2% (9 cases) resulted in administrative actions such as corrective orders or fines.

The Small and Medium Enterprise Technology Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Committee, established in 2015, received a total of 122 mediation requests, but 77% (48 cases) were decided as non-mediation. There were 36 cases of mediation failure and 48 cases where mediation was discontinued due to reasons such as litigation filing or lack of evidence.

The average mediation period also reached 98 days. Among the 87 cases where mediation was completed, 44 cases exceeded the three-month period stipulated by the operational rules of the SME Technology Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Committee. It was confirmed that the maximum litigation cost support limit for lawsuits against large corporations is about 10 million KRW.

Rep. Kim stated, "The reality for SMEs is that they lack the time and funds to endure the arduous dispute procedures such as lawsuits against large corporations with enormous capital power," and pointed out, "There is a need to expand cost support for victimized SMEs and to establish drastic measures to enhance the speed of mediation procedures."

He added, "If the issue of technology theft is not corrected, the sound growth of South Korea's economy will also be distant," urging, "It is urgent to improve laws and systems that can alleviate the burden of proof on victim companies, introduce a data submission order system, and complement the blind spots in the Fair Trade Commission's handling of technology misappropriation cases."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.