Korean automotive parts supplier backfires with false accusation lawsuit against crosstown rival SNT Motiv
Korens, a South Korean automotive parts supplier, has been cleared of a trade secret infringement allegation raised by its crosstown rival SNT Motiv, the company announced Thursday.
The Busan High Prosecutors’ Office dismissed an appeal case from SNT Motiv last week, citing that it found no evidence to support SNT Motiv's allegation that Korens illegally obtained the information on adhesive application quantities or drying conditions or leaked the related data to the outside.
The prosecution added that the information in question could naturally be identified in the production process of partner companies and did not constitute proprietary technical data protected under the trade secret law.
The lawsuit began when SNT released a press release in 2022, claiming that Korens had poached employees and illicitly obtained numerous trade secrets. SNT filed a formal complaint later that year.
Korens pointed out that since the allegations, it suffered severe business damage as some of its projects with clients stalled, and cooperation talks stalled while the legal dispute was ongoing.
“Throughout the lawsuit, SNT Motiv claimed that it had decisive evidence, but investigators found none to support its narrative,” said a Korens official.
”As the ungrounded complaints and appeals have repeatedly tarnished the reputation of the company and its executives and employees and severely disrupted our business activities, we will strongly pursue all necessary legal measures to prevent the same incident from happening again in the future.”
Korens has already filed a lawsuit accusing current and former SNT Motiv employees of false accusations. Police are conducting a formal investigation into the matter.
“Protecting trade secrets is an important value that all companies must abide by, but it should not be used to restrict competitors from entering a market or carrying out business activities,” said the Korens official.
“With the dismissal of the appeal resolving accusations against Korens and its employees, we will now focus on strengthening our global competitiveness in the future industrial sectors such as eco-friendly mobility and hydrogen energy.”
hwkan@heraldcorp.com
