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Prosecutors drop Korens trade secret leakage case with SNT Motiv

Published: 11 Aug. 2025, 17:24

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Korens EM's headquarters in Busan [YONHAP]

A trade secret leakage case against three employees at Korens and its affiliate Korens EM, both auto parts manufacturers, has been closed, ending the three-year legal dispute with market rival SNT Motiv.

The Busan District Prosecutors' Office's eastern branch recently ended its investigation into the employees, who previously worked for SNT Motiv but later joined Korens, saying that there was no evidence of a violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secrets Protection Act.

It follows an earlier decision by the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency not to refer the case to the prosecution last October, citing insufficient evidence.

“While the protection of trade secrets must be upheld under all circumstances, it should never be misused by large corporations as a tool to exclude emerging companies from competition or to block market entry,” Korens said in a statement.

“We have suffered significant tangible and intangible losses as a result of false accusations made by a competitor, which were recklessly amplified and spread — leading to exclusion from bidding processes and the complete suspension of development partnerships.”

The two's dispute began in February 2022, when SNT Motiv issued a press release accusing Korens of unlawfully poaching employees and misappropriating trade secrets. SNT claimed that since 2017, Korens systematically and sequentially recruited key personnel from its core development teams, including the head of the motor development team, motor production engineering and supplier quality management.

Korens has claimed that SNT’s attempt is a strategic move by a large corporation to block a mid-sized competitor from entering new markets, arguing that it raised the issue three to five years after the employees in question had already left the company, and did not file a formal complaint until five months after making the allegations public.

Meanwhile, Korens has filed a criminal complaint for false accusation against both the current and former CEOs of SNT Motiv.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]