'Leaking Confidential Information for Patent Litigation'... Former Samsung Electronics IP Center Head An Seungho Faces Trial

Former Samsung Electronics Intellectual Property (IP) Center Head (Vice President) An Seung-ho (64), who filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics in the United States using illegally obtained confidential information, has been indicted while in custody.

Former Samsung Electronics Vice President (Head of IP Center) Ahn Seung-ho, accused of conspiring with internal Samsung Electronics employees to steal important confidential documents (Photo by Yonhap News)

On the 18th, the Information Technology Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor An Dong-geon) announced that former Vice President An, along with Samsung Electronics IP team employee Lee (52), who leaked confidential information, were indicted in custody on charges of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (including trade secret leakage). Additionally, Lee (51), head of the Samsung Display patent application group, who received approximately 700 million KRW in kickbacks from a patent law firm, was also indicted in custody on charges including breach of trust.

According to the prosecution, former Vice President An served as the inaugural head of Samsung Electronics' IP Center, overseeing IP management for about 10 years and managing defenses against Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs). After resigning in 2019, he established his own NPE. An NPE refers to a company that does not have production facilities or sales organizations but employs a small number of technical experts and litigation-specialized lawyers to generate revenue through patent rights enforcement.

While operating the NPE, former Vice President An represented the U.S. audio equipment company 'Tekiya' and, during patent license negotiations with Samsung Electronics, illegally obtained a report containing Samsung Electronics' confidential information in August 2021. Based on this, he filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics in the U.S. in November of the same year. The prosecution has determined that Samsung Electronics' confidential information, illegally obtained during the lawsuit process, was extensively misused.

The prosecution secured physical evidence proving former Vice President An's crimes through searches and seizures of related parties. Defendants who initially denied the crimes admitted to illegally obtaining and using the confidential report in question. The U.S. court handling the patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics also ruled that former Vice President An and others engaged in fraudulent acts based on the investigation results of the Korean prosecution.

Meanwhile, in 2016, Kim, then CEO of government-invested company A, purchased patents from a Japanese company with no economic value for $770,000 using government subsidies to jointly operate a patent business with the Japanese company. Among this, $270,000 was returned, and three individuals, including the CEO of the government-invested company, were indicted without detention on charges including breach of trust.

The Information Technology Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office stated, "We will continue to fully utilize our specialized investigative capabilities to strictly punish industrial technology and trade secret leakage offenders to protect the technology and trade secrets of domestic companies."

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