Criminal law measures to protect trade secrets: focusing on the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act

In the rapidly evolving high-tech industry, the significance of safeguarding trade secrets is growing exponentially as the risk of unauthorized access and information breaches continues to escalate. A “trade secret” is information, including a method of manufacture, method of sale, technical or business information useful in the conduct of business, which is not publicly known, is the subject of reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy, and has independent economic value. The Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act in Korea serves to shield these trade secrets from infringement. Nonetheless, the current penalty structure outlined in the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act faces several shortcomings. In practical terms, the offense of breaching professional trust has been widely employed to facilitate criminal sanctions against trade secret violations. However, this excessive reliance on the breach of professional trust crime has resulted in a lack of clarity regarding the elements stipulated in the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act. To effectively penalize accomplices involved in trade secret infringements and those attempting to unlawfully obtain trade secrets, a comprehensive and well-grounded approach must be adopted. This necessitates considering attempts, preparations, and conspiracies as integral components of the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act.