Korea Cigarettes (KT&G) was not properly compensated for the invention of its tobacco vape technology, with a former researcher suing the company for damages that could run into trillions of won. The first trial will be held on October 17.
Trial looms in huge claim by former Korea Tobacco employee
A former researcher at South Korean cigarette maker KT&G has sued the company for a research and development bonus for the invention of the position, but he has not received the compensation he deserves because he claims to have created the world’s first tobacco vape technology, N.N.WS reports. The first trial of the civil lawsuit will be held on October 17, and the amount of money in the lawsuit could increase to several trillion won during the trial.
In 2005, the employee reportedly began developing heated cigarette vapes while working as a KT&G researcher and first filed a heating element patent in July of that year. However, subsequent studies have been halted. The employee said his suggestions were not taken up by the company and he resigned in 2010 as a result of the company’s restructuring. He noted that after KT&G inherited its job inventions, many of the technologies have not yet been licensed, despite applying for some patents.
Litigation may rise to $2 billion
As the original developer of “heated tobacco vape”, the employee filed a complaint to the court in April this year but did not receive compensation. KT&G paid 20 million won ($14,000) in upfront payments and 6.25 million won ($4,600) in monthly technical consultant salaries for March 2021 to 2022 alone. The amount of compensation requested is based on the loss caused by the employee’s failure to obtain a patent for the technology overseas. “Since 2017, other large global overseas companies have launched heated vapes in South Korea and earned revenue due to KT&G’s failure to obtain patents overseas,” he noted.
KT&G countered that it had paid appropriate compensation to its employees, noting that the patents did not apply to products currently manufactured and that other international companies did not use the technology in question to sell their products.
Even so, the amount of the employee’s lawsuit made history as the largest civil claim in China. The initial amount of the lawsuit was 100 billion won ($73.53 million), and the court service fee alone exceeded 300 million won ($220,000).
Depending on the progress of the lawsuit, the employee plans to increase the amount of the claim to trillions of won. If it is increased to 2.8 trillion won ($2 billion), it will account for 30 percent of its capital. However, it is not excluded that the court may resolve the dispute through conciliation proceedings without a final judgment.
If mediation fails, the court may decide on mediation through coercive powers.
