NHN Accused of Technology Theft in Caregiver Platform

NHN WeCare Screen

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] NHN has been accused of stealing technology from a startup.

On the 7th, Kim Kyung-man, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, made this claim during the national audit.

NHN launched the open beta service of the caregiver matching platform "WeCare" through an in-house venture last month, and the service is said to be similar to the startup's "CareNation" service.

Rep. Kim stated, "There are many similarities with the platform of the affected company that was released a year earlier. Upon checking membership registration and service usage records, many NHN in-house venture executives and employees were registered as caregivers and guardian members." He added, "An NHN in-house venture employee who directly spoke with the affected company was found to have lied about their identity, claiming to be a graduate student."

Regarding this, NHN said, "There was some lack of caution during the market research process while preparing the new service. However, the implemented UX reflects the essential aspects of a manpower brokerage app, and it is an excessive interpretation to equate similarity with technology theft."

They added, "We will once again review whether there were any shortcomings during the service preparation process and take corrective measures."

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