[Invest&Law] US Court Dismisses Patent Lawsuit by Former Samsung Electronics Patent Head... Korean Prosecutors' Investigation Records Accepted as Evidence

Published 29 May.2024 10:31(KST)

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US Federal Eastern District of Texas Court ruling on the 'patent troll' v. Samsung Electronics case. Photo by Legal Newspaper

It has been confirmed that a U.S. federal court recognized investigation records and testimony statements from the Korean prosecution as “admissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence” in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by an NPE (Non Practicing Entity, patent asset management company) known as a ‘patent troll,’ established by former Samsung Electronics patent chief Vice President Ahn Seung-ho and others after their retirement, against Samsung Electronics.

While it is generally the principle that investigation records from foreign investigative agencies are considered “hearsay evidence” and are not admissible, the U.S. court’s direct acceptance of testimony statements from the Korean prosecution as evidence is an exceptional case.

According to the judgment document obtained by Law Times (Staton Techiya and Synergy IP v. Samsung Elec., Civil Action No. 2:21-CV-00413-JRG-RSP), the U.S. Federal Eastern District Court of Texas on May 9 ruled against the plaintiffs Synergy IP, a patent management company founded by former Samsung Electronics patent chief Ahn Seung-ho, and patent holder Staton Techiya in a patent infringement lawsuit concerning wireless earphones and voice recognition technologies filed against Samsung Electronics.

After two and a half years of proceedings, the U.S. court ruled that the lawsuit itself was filed illegally, and therefore there was no need to examine whether Samsung Electronics infringed the patents. It found that former Vice President Ahn and former Samsung Electronics senior official Cho conspired with a former subordinate who was a Samsung patent employee to illegally obtain important confidential patent-related information and use it in the lawsuit.

The court described their actions in the judgment as “dishonest, unfair, deceptive, and abhorrent acts contrary to the rule of law,” and considering the severity of the illegal acts, it specified that “re-filing the lawsuit is not allowed (dismiss with prejudice).”

The basis for this ruling by the U.S. court was the investigation records and related testimony statements from the Korean prosecution. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office launched an investigation in March 2023 following a complaint from Samsung Electronics, and through forensic analysis of mobile phone call logs and data of former Vice President Ahn and others, confirmed that they had stolen confidential patent information from Samsung patent employee Lee. The investigation also confirmed that Ahn and others destroyed evidence during summons and questioning. Samsung Electronics submitted the prosecution’s testimony statements to the U.S. court in December last year, and the court recognized all the illegal acts and evidence destruction by former Vice President Ahn and others.

The U.S. court stated, “The testimony statements from the Korean prosecution were made under lawful authority and recorded the facts,” and “are recognized as lawful evidence under the U.S. Federal Rules of Evidence.”

The U.S. Federal Rules of Evidence generally only admit testimony given in court as evidence, and out-of-court statements are considered hearsay and admitted only in exceptional cases. It is known to be very rare for investigation records or statements from foreign investigative agencies to be accepted as evidence.

Choi Hyun-seok, a U.S. attorney at the New York law firm Choi & Park, said, “This ruling is significant in that the U.S. court respected the investigation results of the Korean prosecution.”

Meanwhile, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is reportedly continuing the investigation while imposing a travel ban on former Vice President Ahn and former senior official Cho. From 2010 to 2018, former Vice President Ahn served as head of Samsung Electronics’ IP Center, responsible for patent development, licensing strategy, patent litigation supervision, and other legal issues related to Samsung’s global IP program.

After retiring in 2019, he established Synergy IP in June 2020 and filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics and Samsung Electronics America at the Eastern District Court of Texas in November of the same year.