「산업기술보호법」 상 ‘산업기술’의 범위와 판단기준 : ‘첨단기술’을 중심으로

Abstract

In litigation concerning industrial technology leakage, one of the primary issues is defining the "scope of industrial technology." In recent case of "advanced technology" leakage, the court has established standards for determining whether certain manufacturing-related information qualifies as industrial technology. Specifically, the court has ruled that it is appropriate to consider whether the information: (1) is unique and essential to the manufacture of the target product and, if the necessary conditions are met, enables the product's production on its own; or (2) even if not directly meeting such criteria, can easily be logically derived from the information as necessary for manufacturing the product. In this regard, the court limited the scope of industrial technology to information inherently unique and essential to the implementation of the technology, excluding supplementary information such as experimental data generated during development processes or the sources of raw materials. This paper examines the "scope of industrial technology" and its "standards of assessment," particularly in the context of "advanced technology," which constitutes the vast majority of industrial technology. Upon reviewing regulations related to advanced technology and relevant verification systems, it appears that these do not sufficiently satisfy the principle of clarity. Additionally, considering the relationship between the Industrial Technology Protection Act and the Trade Secrets Protection Act, it seems consistent with the legislative intent of both laws to limit the scope of industrial technology to indispensable technical information required for product or process implementation, while leaving ancillary experimental data, generated during development, under the domain of trade secrets. However, given the intensifying demands for stronger legislation to curb industrial espionage amid prolonged global competition for technological supremacy, there is a need to consider expanding the scope of industrial technology. Nonetheless, to incorporate information such as research data recognized as a core asset of companies into the realm of protected industrial technology, a legislative solution through societal discourse is required.