The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday sentenced former Samsung Electronics Vice President Ahn Seung-ho to three years in prison for leaking confidential company materials.
Ahn established Synergy IP, a patent management company, in 2020, after retiring from his position as head of Samsung Electronics’ Intellectual Property Center. He was charged with obtaining internal information from an employee at Samsung Electronics’ IP Center and using the materials in a patent infringement lawsuit against the company.
The IP Center employee, surnamed Lee, received a two-year prison sentence for leaking company data. Another employee accused of having conspired with Ahn was also sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three years.
“The report obtained by Ahn appears to have been produced through the efforts of multiple teams at Samsung Electronics’ Intellectual Property Center, including the technology analysis team, and would have required substantial cost and resources,” the court said in its ruling.
“The defendant inflicted damage on the company for personal gain by leaking confidential information from a former employer, committing a serious offense that undermines fair market order,” the court added.
Prosecutors said Ahn filed the patent lawsuit in collaboration with Tekiya, an audio equipment firm, alleging that Samsung Electronics had infringed patents related to audio recording devices.
However, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas dismissed the case, ruling that Ahn had improperly obtained and used confidential materials in the litigation.
During his time at Samsung, Ahn played a key role in the company's patent war against Apple, Huawei and other global tech giants. He was also central to the global patent cross-licensing agreement Samsung reached with Google.
Meanwhile, prosecutors also indicted a Samsung Display executive after uncovering a separate personal misconduct during the investigation into Ahn. The executive had also received leaked data from the IP Center employee Lee.
The court sentenced the Samsung Display executive to three years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 533 million won ($367,000)
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