Italian cosmetic firm fined for stealing Kolmar Korea's sunscreen technology

Kolmar Korea Corp. said it has emerged victorious in a trade secret infringement lawsuit against the Korean subsidiary of the Italian cosmetics company, Intercos.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Kolmar Korea in the lawsuit against Intercos Korea and some former researchers for breach of trade secrets. The court mandated the former employees and Intercos Korea to discard the leaked trade secrets from Kolmar and jointly pay 200 million won, plus delayed interest.

The court verdict comes after Intercos Korea allegedly stole Suncare, a core sunscreen technology developed by Kolmar.

Kolmar had claimed that a former employee, who joined Kolmar in 2008, quit his job after nine years, citing that he was immigrating to the U.S.

However, the employee started anew at Intercos Korea a mere week after he quit his job in Jan. 2018.

During the process, the employee allegedly moved hundreds of crucial sunblock technology files from his company laptop to Google Drive.

Intercos Korea, a company that neither manufactured nor sold sun care products, began producing such products after the employee joined the company and recorded sales of approximately 46 billion won in 2018.

Intercos also applied for a product review of 44 sunscreen products, which Kolmar stressed was unprecedented.

Another former Kolmar employee, who worked from 2007 to 2012, also attempted to illicitly leak core technologies upon joining Intercos Korea in 2018.

The court inferred that the products were produced using the purloined trade secrets.

In a prior criminal trial, both employees were sentenced to 10 months imprisonment and six months imprisonment with a two-year probation, respectively. Intercos Korea was also fined 10 million won.

"This court ruling sends a stern warning against foreign companies trying to undermine the foundation of domestic enterprises through unethical technological theft," a Kolmar official said. "We will legally take this case until the end, as we have elevated our sunscreen technology to the world's highest standards through massive investments over three decades."