Kolmar Korea's office in Seoul / Courtesy of Kolmar Korea

A local court fined Intercos Korea over charges of technology theft involving Kolmar Korea's suncare technology, the major Korean original development manufacturing cosmetic company said, Wednesday.

The Suwon District Court has ordered the Korean subsidiary of the Italian cosmetic company to pay a fine of 5 million won ($3,550) for violating Korea's Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act. An Intercos Korea employee found responsible for the offense has been sentenced to 10 months in prison and his accomplice was handed a six-month prison term, suspended for two years.

The court had initially doled out the same sentences in 2021 and the appeals court increased the fine against Intercos to 10 million won. The Supreme Court finalized the sentences for the two suspects but ruled the fine's amount needed reconsideration considering part of the theft's outcome ended up as just attempted crime. The top court sent the case back to the district court where the sentences were finalized.

The main defendant, whose identity has been withheld, started working for Kolmar in 2008 and led its suncare technology research division until 2018 when he quit the company saying he was moving to the United States. However, instead of relocating, he joined Intercos Korea less than a week after leaving Kolmar. Intercos Korea started seeing its suncare products' sales jump sharply, shortly after hiring him. The company had never produced suncare products before his arrival.

A digital forensic investigation of the suspect's laptop found that he had secured hundreds of confidential files related to Kolmar's suncare technology prior to quitting the company, uploaded them to Google Drive and shared them with Intercos.

"The latest decision by the court has confirmed that Intercos Korea has stolen Kolmar's suncare technology," a Kolmar official said. "Korean companies with some of the world's highest level of technology should never suffer from tech theft."