YOON&YANG

As global competition for advanced technologies intensifies, Yoon & Yang’s Trade Secret Practice Group, composed of former engineers, prosecutors, and regulators, stands out as a trusted partner in safeguarding core innovations. Drawing on deep technical expertise and in-house digital forensics center, our Trade Secret PG delivers swift and coordinated responses to complex disputes. Recent successes include securing an injunction against a key high bandwidth memory engineer’s move to a U.S. competitor and obtaining a rare criminal conviction in a DRAM leak case by strategically using circumstantial evidence. Yoon & Yang’s Trade Secret PG will continue to deliver integrated, cross-functional solutions to help clients safeguard their technologies and navigate global risks.

1.Introduction

2.Successful Preliminary Injunction Prevents Key Engineer’s Move to a U.S. Competitor in the High Bandwidth Memory Sector

3.Criminal Conviction Achieved in DRAM Trade Secret Leak Case by Utilizing Digital Forensics and Circumstantial Evidence

4.Integrated and Cross-Functional Response with a Unified Team Approach

1. Introduction

As global competition over technological supremacy intensifies, the protection of trade secrets and industrial technologies has become unprecedently critical. In response to this growing demand, Yoon & Yang LLC has established its Trade Secret Practice Group (PG), which is a specialized cross-disciplinary task force designed to provide comprehensive legal solutions for complex trade secret and industrial technology disputes. Our Trade Secret PG leverages the firm’s extensive expertise across intellectual property, criminal law, antitrust, labor, and government regulation to deliver swift and effective responses to our clients’ most challenging trade secret matters.

Yoon & Yang’s Trade Secret PG consists of professionals with deep domain and institutional knowledge, including former engineers from leading Korean tech companies, former prosecutors specializing in industrial technology crime, as well as former officials from the Korea Fair Trade Commission and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. We bring together experts from a wide range of technical fields, including electronics, machinery, and chemistry, to provide one-stop full legal services for our clients’ needs spanning criminal, civil, and administrative matters.

To further bolster our capabilities, Yoon & Yang operates both an in-house Digital Forensics Center and a Discovery Center. These technical assets play a pivotal role in internal investigations, cross-border litigation, and fact-finding activities related to trade secret misappropriation, setting Yoon & Yang apart in delivering tailored and effective legal solutions.

Below are two recent cases that highlight the dept and expertise of Yoon & Yang’s Trade Secret PG:

2. Successful Preliminary Injunction Prevents Key Engineer’s Move to a U.S. Competitor in the High Bandwidth Memory Sector

Yoon & Yang recently secured a successful preliminary injunction in a high-profile trade secret case involving High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) technology. This case centered around John Doe, a key engineer who had been with ABC Company since 2001, dedicating over two decades to the development of DRAM and HBM technologies. Despite having signed both a two-year non-compete agreement and an additional confidentiality/non-compete undertaking related to national core technologies controlled under the Korean laws (which includes DRAM and HBM technologies), Mr. Doe left ABC Company in 2022 and joined a U.S.-based competitor shortly thereafter.

Yoon & Yang’s Trade Secret PG formed a dedicated response team to expeditiously obtain a preliminary injunction, overcoming the significant challenge of international service of process by demonstrating that this was not a matter of ordinary technical know-how, but rather involved the misappropriation of national core technology.

Our Trade Secret PG further convinced the court by highlighting that Mr. Doe had been directly involved in HBM projects, and although he had no prior overseas work or study experience, he was specifically recruited to the U.S., which is a strong indicator that he would be engaged in similar HBM-related work with the competitor. Further, we presented market data and technical comparisons between the two companies demonstrating that the U.S. competitor had a strong incentive to hire Mr. Doe for his HBM expertise.

As a result of our multifaceted approach, the court ultimately accepted all of our Trade Secret PG’s arguments and granted the injunction, ruling in favor of ABC Company.

3. Criminal Conviction Achieved in DRAM Trade Secret Leak Case by Utilizing Digital Forensics and Circumstantial Evidence

Yoon & Yang recently secured a criminal conviction in a case involving the unauthorized leak of national core DRAM technologies. The suspect, who had been residing in China, was arrested in Korea upon reentry in 2024.

To evade XYZ Company’s strict security protocols that prohibit large file transfers, the suspect resorted to printing hundreds of pages containing sensitive national core technology materials and leaking them in individual pieces. Since these activities occurred at the XYZ Company’s affiliate in China, the investigation faced significant challenges, as no direct evidence (such as the printed documents) could be obtained through search and seizure.

In response, our team relied on comprehensive digital forensic analysis to collect and present a wide range of circumstantial evidence, including the suspect’s unusual printing patterns and the circumstances surrounding his change in employment. By cohesively and meticulously connecting these pieces of evidence, our team built a compelling case of trade secret misappropriation. The court ultimately accepted the circumstantial evidence in full, delivering a guilty verdict and imposing a prison sentence on the suspect at the first instance, despite the absence of direct physical proof.

4. Integrated, Cross-Functional Response with a Unified Team Approach

Trade secret disputes frequently escalate into complex, multi-layered legal challenges that may encompass criminal and civil litigation, regulatory investigations, and even international proceedings, such as cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission. Yoon & Yang’s Trade Secret PG operates as a “One Team” multidisciplinary platform, seamlessly integrating expertise across diverse practice areas to deliver unified and strategic solutions for clients facing such disputes.

Yoon & Yang’s Trade Secret PG remains committed to serving as a trusted partner for clients seeking to protect their technologies and navigate global competition. We are dedicated to delivering practical, timely, and decisive solutions, individually tailored to each client’s unique needs.