Trade Secrets: South Korea versus United States

Abstract

South Korea is one of the world's largest economies experiencing rapid growth of the high tech sector. As a result of this, there is a growing awareness of the importance of trade secrets as valuable corporate property among the South Korean corporations that invest extensively in R&D capacities.

In the past, South Korean law has traditionally been scarcely protective of trade secrets of companies. However, the rapid South Korean economic development, the globalization of the South Korean corporations and the penetration of big multinational enterprises into the South Korean market has triggered development of dynamic domestic market of intangibles. This in turn triggered several major trade secret infringement cases and since then has put a pressure on the South Korean government to undertake measures directed towards trade secrets legal regime's strengthening. It is believed that stronger legal protection of trade secrets and other intangibles will secure further development of the intangibles' market and attract more investments and technology transfer from abroad, especially from the United States.

Keywords: trade secrets, South Korea, USA, law