Kolmar Korea Wins Case Against Italian Cosmetics Manufacturer Intercos Over Theft Of Sunscreen Technology

SEOUL, South Korea--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- Kolmar Korea (KRX:161890), a Korean cosmetics ODM (Original Development Manufacturing) company, announced its victory in a lawsuit against Intercos Korea, the manufacturer's Korean subsidiary Italian cosmetics company Intercos. It turned out that Intercos misappropriated and profited from key solar product (sun protection) technology originally developed by Kolmar Korea. Kolmar Korea has invested hundreds of billions of KRW in this technology.

Kolmar Korea filed a 'trade secrets violation' lawsuit against its former employees who disclosed the technology and against Intercos Korea, leading to favorable rulings in both civil and criminal proceedings. Korean courts ordered Intercos Korea to pay 200 million KRW in damages following the first civil trial last August. Before that, during the second trial of the criminal case, two former employees, identified as A and B, were found guilty of technology dissemination. A was sentenced to 10 months in prison while B was sentenced to 6 months in prison and two years of probation.

According to sources knowledgeable about legal matters in Korea, A and B joined Intercos Korea in 2018 and illicitly disclosed sunscreen technology without authorization. A, who was a cosmetics researcher at Kolmar Korea for 10 years from 2008, assumed the role of general manager for cosmetics development at Intercos Korea immediately after leaving Kolmar Korea in January 2018. B, who worked in quality as a researcher for the development of basic cosmetics at Kolmar Korea, also participated in the unauthorized disclosure of the technology.

Between March and December 2018, Intercos Korea conducted 44 sunscreen audits from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in a short period of 10 months, with only three employees. The court concluded that this was unusual in the cosmetics industry and that the company used technology stolen from Kolmar Korea. It is worth noting that Intercos Korea's sales of sun protection products reached a staggering KRW 46 billion in 2018 alone.

Established in 1990, Kolmar Korea serves more than 900 customers and its annual production reaches 1.5 billion units. In the sun care market, it is impossible to talk about product development and production without mentioning Kolmar Korea, which stands out thanks to its cutting-edge technologies.

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Contacts

Eun-Jeong Lee
+82-2-3459-5552
wooju@kolmar.co.kr