[마감 후] The two faces of ‘collaboration’ threatening the corporate ecosystem

The pattern of stealing technology from SMEs is becoming more sophisticated and complex day by day. A large company approaches first, proposes equity investment, joint development, or collaboration, and if technology is shared, it replicates it and launches a similar model. After SMEs deliver ideas and technical content, communication is cut off or investment is cut off. There are also cases of analyzing application services through disguised subscriptions. Small and medium-sized businesses sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), but they are useless.

Small and medium-sized businesses are swayed by numerous tyranny in the course of this dispute. Even if they raise the issue of embarrassing copying, they remain ignorant, or they reduce the technology they created by grinding their bones, sweat, and youth into a technology that can be picked up by anyone by falling on the road. Some conglomerates even pull out the card of patent registration invalidation lawsuits by small and medium-sized enterprises. If you look at the representative of a health care platform startup who complained of the damage of technology theft by a large company, pointing out that it is “the tyranny of the boss itself,” you can guess how arbitrary and violent the company’s interception process is.

It is the process of solving the problem that makes small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) suffering from technology theft disputes more painful. In the first place, it is a fight by hitting rocks with eggs, and small and medium-sized businesses must prove the specific damage, such as the fact of damage, the scale of damage, and the perpetrator’s intentionality. For SMEs without dedicated staff to respond to legal disputes, founders have no choice but to devote their full time to resolving disputes. The business is in danger of being stranded, and normal management becomes virtually impossible. This leads to a loss of motivation and will for technology development.

Holes in laws and systems to help companies that have been damaged are also a factor that makes them tired. Under the current Unfair Competition Prevention Act, cases of infringement of ideas, illegal use of data, or product infringement are excluded from criminal punishment. In case of product infringement, the only remedy for the victim company is a civil lawsuit. In cases of idea infringement and illegal use of data, if the other company’s illegality is recognized, only corrective measures can be taken. If large corporations do not comply with the corrective recommendations, it is possible to make public announcements, but it is difficult to say that they have completely exited the long tunnel in that it is not a way for the damaged companies to recover. It is for this reason that the damaged companies are urging the ‘power’ of strong laws and systems, such as legislation prohibiting the act of requesting trade secrets, new criminal punishment provisions under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, expansion of the scope of compensation for damages, and litigation support.

The unethical behavior of conglomerates stealing ideas with their enormous scale and financial power may stop at the level of putting pressure on the growth of the company in the short term, but it is a threat factor that breaks the overall business ecosystem, such as cooperation between companies, coexistence, and the birth of young entrepreneurs. can work

The government and Yeouido need to move. After coming to the discussion table in 2008, the delivery payment sliding system was entrusted to the market, but due to the limits of autonomy, it was eventually legislated after 14 years. In order to correct the tilted playing field that President Yoon Seok-yeol said, the government and the National Assembly must move as a team to ensure that they can stand fairly without falling over on the tilted board. At least, it is good news that the government is making efforts to unify complicated channels, such as setting up a technology theft reporting center.

Tens of trillions of large-scale funds are not the only way to grow unicorns. Institutionalizing small businesses to grow based on innovative ideas and innovative technologies is the way for our industry to survive in the face of fierce global innovation. In the name of ESG, the government and politicians need the mouths and feet of the government and politicians to make sure that the face behind the cooperation of large corporations promoting fair trade, competition, and coexistence does not become more sophisticated and scary. Unlike other countries such as the United States and Israel, one of the reasons why there are few technology-based unicorns in Korea is because of the insufficient system in which the results of technology development cannot be protected.