If SMEs' Technology Is Stolen, Liability for Damages Is '5 Times' Greater

Approval of the Amendment Bills to the Win-Win Cooperation Act and the Small and Medium Business Technology Protection Act at the Cabinet Meeting

The '5x Compensation System' will be introduced to eradicate technology theft from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo) announced that the amendments to the 'Win-Win Cooperation Act' and the 'SME Technology Protection Act,' which strengthen punitive damages and improve the court's authority to request document submission to eradicate technology theft from SMEs, were approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 2nd.

According to the amended Win-Win Cooperation Act, which strengthens punitive damages, to proactively prevent technology theft and provide substantial compensation for damages, the liability for damages caused by unfair use of technical data and related retaliatory acts, currently stipulated as 'up to 3 times,' has been strengthened to 'up to 5 times.'

The court's authority to request document submission has also been improved. In damage compensation lawsuits, the records that the court can request from the Minister of SMEs and Startups have been specified to include statements from parties involved in the case, witnesses, or appraisers, as well as a complete list of records submitted by the parties or obtained from the parties during on-site investigations.

Minister Oh Young-joo said, "Through this legal amendment, we have introduced the first-ever 5x compensation system for technology theft, which will secure the effectiveness of victim relief." She added, "In particular, the improvement of the document submission request system will create an opportunity to smoothly resolve the issue of proving damages for SMEs by linking administrative investigations and court litigation."

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