[가처분][하집2000-1,170]
Where an employee who has engaged in a specific research and development in the field of advanced technology and entered into an agreement with the company to disclose or not to use trade secrets to a third party without being employed in the competitor for one year after his/her retirement, the case holding that the prohibition agreement is valid on the ground that it cannot be deemed that it unfairly limits an individual’s freedom to choose occupation under the Constitution, and that the duration of the prohibition of competition and the trade secrets obligation is reasonable until one year after his/her retirement.
Where an employee who has engaged in a specific research and development in the field of advanced technology and entered into an agreement with the company to disclose or not use trade secrets to a third party without being employed in the competitor for one year after his/her retirement, the case holding that the prohibition agreement is valid on the ground that it cannot be deemed that it unfairly limits an individual’s freedom to choose occupation under the Constitution, and that the duration of the prohibition of competition and the trade secrets obligation is reasonable until one year after his/her retirement.
[1] Article 714(2) of the Civil Procedure Act Article 15 of the Constitution
Samsung Electronic Co., Ltd. (Law Firm Squa, Attorneys Seo Jong-woo et al., Counsel for the defendant-appellant)
[Defendant-Appellant] 1 and 3 others (Attorney Park Hun-young, Counsel for defendant-appellant)
1.The creditor deposits gold 24,00,000 won, gold 12,00,000 won for the debtor's seat, gold 27,000,000 won for the debtor's seat, and gold 27,000,000 won for the debtor's Kim Jin or submits a document concluding a contract for the entrustment of payment guarantee with the amount as the insured amount, within seven (7) days from the date of receipt of this decision by the creditor;
A. (1) By February 17, 2001, the debtor's schedule is determined.
(2) The debtor's single seat shall be until October 11, 2000.
(3) Until March 8, 2001, the debtor moving aircraft
(4) The debtor Kim Tae-jin by March 8, 2001
No person shall be employed by KONEX Co., Ltd. other than each application.
(b)(1) The debtor’s charter party rules are trade secrets listed in Section 1 of the Schedule by February 17, 2001;
(2) The debtor's seat on October 11, 200 shall be trade secrets listed in Section 2 of the Schedule by no later than October 200.
(3) By March 8, 2001, the debtor moving aircraft is a trade secret listed in Section 3 of the Schedule.
(4) The debtor Kim Tae-jin, until March 8, 2001, will trade secrets listed in Section 4 of the annexed Table.
No person other than each creditor shall make public or use it.
2. The remaining claims against the creditors are dismissed, respectively.
The debtor's schedule shall not be employed by Nexcom Co., Ltd. other than the applicant, until February 17, 2003; the debtor's Han-man shall not be employed until October 11, 2002; the debtor's Dong-man shall not be employed until March 8, 2003; and the debtor Kim Tae-jin shall not be employed by the debtor until March 8, 2003. The debtor's Jung-jin shall not disclose or use the trade secrets listed in paragraph (1) of the attached Table No. 1; the debtor's Han-man shall be a trade secret listed in paragraph (2) of the attached Table No. 2; the debtor's Dong-man shall be a trade secret listed in paragraph (3) of the attached Table No. 3; the debtor Kim-jin
1. An occurrence of a duty to prohibit competition and a duty to observe trade secrets;
According to the records of this case, the debtor's employment in the creditor company engaged in the manufacturing and selling business of electronic machinery, telecommunications machinery and parts thereof, etc., and work less than one month as a researcher for the development of radio terminal at the radio development team of the company, a large amount of six months of vocational training, on-the-job training, and on-the-job training, etc., during which the debtor's employment was conducted, the debtor's employment rules were made on February 18, 200, and the debtor's employment on October 12, 199, and the debtor's employment on March 9, 200, the debtor Kim Jong-jin retired from office on March 9, 200, and the debtor's employment on March 1, 200 will not be employed in a company competition with the creditor company at the time of retirement, and the fact that the debtor's employment agreement was concluded to the effect that the defendant and the non-party company should not use the trade secrets recorded in the attached list for the purpose of sale of radio machinery and parts.
According to the above facts, unless there are special circumstances, debtors have to not employed in KON Co., Ltd. other than the creditor company and the creditor company's trade secrets stated in the creditor company's attached list should not be disclosed to persons other than creditors or used directly.
2. The assertion and determination on the validity of the agreement prohibiting competition
The debtor asserts that the agreement on the prohibition of competition in this case is null and void because it infringes on an individual's freedom to choose an occupation guaranteed by the Constitution. Thus, the purpose of the agreement on the prohibition of competition in this case is to prevent the act of causing damage to the creditor company by working in the same type of business or working in another competitor after retirement through information on the manufacturing method, etc. of the wireless device that the debtor became aware of during the period of employment, i.e., the act of causing damage to the creditor company. In order to promote the research and development of the company and maintain the sound competition order among the companies, it is necessary to protect the research and development outcomes paid by investing a large number of time and expenses in the company from being leaked to other competitors without permission through the individual's transfer process. In light of the fact that the prohibition period stipulated in the agreement on the prohibition of competition in this case is a relatively short period of time and is limited to one year, and even within the scope of such restriction, it cannot be viewed that the agreement on the prohibition of competition in this case is unreasonably restricting the individual's freedom to choose an occupation guaranteed by the Constitution.
In other words, the debtor asserts that the agreement on the prohibition of competitive business of this case was made by the creditor company's coercion and is null and void, so there is no evidence to acknowledge that the creditor company forced the debtor to enter into the agreement on the prohibition of competitive business of this case. Thus, the debtor's assertion is without merit.
3. Obligations to prohibit competition and the duration of obligations to keep trade secrets;
Furthermore, with respect to the obligor's duty not to engage in competitive business and the duration of the obligor's obligation to observe trade secrets, the time limit protected by the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, etc. should be limited within the time limit necessary to ensure fair and free competition by preventing the infringer from taking advantage of more favorable points than fair competitors, i.e., saving time., from taking advantage of the infringement. At the time of the conclusion of the agreement on the prohibition of competitive business, the obligee company limited the period of prohibition of competitive business to one year by considering the fact that the speed of technology development in the radio terminal field is very rapid. Even if the obligee company acquires technical information on the manufacturing method of the radio terminal owned by the obligee company by legitimate methods such as independent development, technical cooperation with the advanced company, reverse design, etc., in light of current speed, it seems that the period of prohibition of competitive business is much more time than the above period of prohibition of competitive business, and if the duration of the agreement is excessively expanded between the company and the employee, the possibility of excessive restriction on the freedom of employment and the possibility of unfair competition after the expiration of the agreement will result in unfairly.
4. Conclusion
Therefore, the application for provisional disposition of this case is proved to be the preserved right that the creditor has the right to claim the prohibition of competition and the right to claim the prohibition of infringement of trade secrets for one year after retirement of each of the parties under the agreement on the prohibition of competition of this case against the debtor, and the debtor is likely to suffer significant damage to the creditor company by being employed by the competitive enterprise related to the creditor company's trade secrets. Thus, the application of this case against the creditor's debtor is accepted within the scope of the above explanation, and each of the remaining parts is dismissed as it is so decided as per Disposition.
Judges Lee Sung-ho (Presiding Justice) (Presiding Justice)