Intercos Korea is the Korean subsidiary of Italian cosmetics ODM company Intercos Group.
The dispute originated when a former Kolmar Korea employee, who had worked at the company for about 10 years, transferred to Intercos Korea in 2018 and removed multiple core research and development materials, including proprietary sunscreen formulation data and new product development information.
Investigations later revealed that another former employee, who also joined Intercos Korea around the same time, participated in the leakage of “trade secrets”.
In January 2024, the Supreme Court of Korea finalised guilty verdicts against both former employees.
Subsequently, in October 2024, the Suwon District Court ruled that Intercos Korea had violated the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act, imposing a fine of KRW5m (approximately USD3455).
Following this ruling, the courts have further ordered the company to bear the full cost of litigation, underscoring the seriousness of technology misappropriation and the accompanying legal responsibility.
As a result, Kolmar Korea recovered a total of KRW31.2m (approximately USD21,588) in legal costs from Intercos Korea and a former employee. This covers the full amount of civil litigation expenses incurred in connection with the case.
“This ruling represents the firm application of our principle that technology leakage must be held accountable to the very end. We will continue to take all necessary measures to protect our core technologies and R&D assets,” said Kolmar Korea.
Widely recognised for its sun care R&D capabilities, Kolmar Korea was the first company in the country to obtain US FDA over-the-counter (OTC) certification for sunscreen products in 2013.
Additionally, the South Korean cosmetics giant established a dedicated research organisation called the UV Tech Innovation Lab in 2022, and currently holds more than 100 patents related to UV protection technologies.
Last year, the company developed the world’s first stabilisation technology for a hybrid composite sunscreen that combines mineral and chemical UV filters.
