Court Grants Injunction Prohibiting Former SK Hynix Researcher Who Moved to Micron from Changing Jobs

SK Hynix HBM Design Work 담당
Court: "Significant Damage to Competitiveness if Information Leaked"

SK Hynix's injunction to prohibit a former researcher who moved to the U.S. company Micron, a latecomer in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), has been granted. The court judged that there could be irreparable damage if SK Hynix's technology were leaked.

SK Hynix. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 7th, the 50th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Sang-hoon) recently approved SK Hynix's injunction request against former researcher A, ordering "payment of 10 million KRW per day in case of violation." A is currently employed at Micron's headquarters as an executive.

The court stated in its ruling, "The debtor (A) shall not be employed or work at Micron in the U.S. or any of its branches, sales offices, workplaces, or affiliates, nor provide consulting, labor, or services through advisory contracts, consulting contracts, service contracts, or dispatch contracts until July 26."

Previously, A worked at SK Hynix as a senior researcher in the Memory Research Institute Design Team, a senior researcher in the DRAM Design Development Division Design Team, a senior member of the HBM business, and the project design lead in the HBM design department. After handling DRAM and HBM design-related tasks, A resigned on July 26, 2022.

Since 2015, during A's tenure at SK Hynix, A signed an information protection pledge every year stating that they would not join a competing company for two years after resignation. Around the time of resignation in July 2022, A also signed a non-compete agreement and a confidentiality agreement regarding national core technologies. The non-compete agreement specifically listed competing companies subject to the restriction, including Micron, and clearly stated the non-compete period as two years.

After confirming A's job change, SK Hynix filed an injunction request against A's non-compete violation with the court in August last year.

The court stated in its ruling, "Considering the debtor's (A's) duties during employment, their position, the trade secrets and information of the creditor (SK Hynix) likely acquired while performing those duties, the employment period, and the creditor's leading position in the related industry, the creditor's interests protected by the non-compete agreement are recognized."

Furthermore, the court noted, "If the information acquired by the debtor is leaked, Micron could significantly shorten the time required to achieve business capabilities equal to the creditor in the same field, while the creditor's competitiveness would be substantially damaged. Considering that restoration is practically impossible if the information is leaked, it is necessary to order indirect enforcement to ensure the effectiveness of the injunction."

Meanwhile, HBM is a high-bandwidth memory that vertically connects multiple DRAM chips to greatly increase data processing speed and is considered an essential product in the artificial intelligence (AI) era. Currently, SK Hynix leads the HBM market, with Samsung Electronics and Micron closely following.

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