[Exclusive] Upbit's Unlisted Stock Platform Faces 'Plagiarism' Controversy

New Feature 'BaroJumun' for Unlisted Stocks on Dunamu's Securities Plus
Fintech Startup Suspected of Copying Service Operated for 3 Months
Similar Name... Same Detailed Conditions Like 10 Million KRW Limit, Quantity Control
Dunamu: "Natural Service Expansion... No Plagiarism"

Screens of the 'Immediate Execution' feature (left) on the Seoul Exchange for unlisted stocks and the 'Immediate Order' feature on Securities Plus for unlisted stocks. Quantity adjustment and the 10 million KRW limit functions are implemented identically.

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Dunamu, which operates Upbit, the largest virtual currency exchange in Korea, is facing plagiarism controversy over its newly launched unlisted stock trading platform. The recently introduced 'Baro Order' feature is accused of copying a function that a fintech (finance + technology) startup has been operating for three months.

According to the financial investment industry on the 25th, Dunamu's unlisted stock trading platform, 'Securities Plus Unlisted,' announced the launch of the 'Baro Order' service yesterday. This function allows sellers to specify the price and quantity when trading unlisted stocks, enabling transactions to be concluded without separate negotiations with buyers. Previously, sellers would post their desired price on a bulletin board, and buyers would contact the sellers to negotiate price and quantity one-on-one before finalizing the deal. It was similar to a secondhand transaction. This new feature allows immediate execution like the existing listed stock market price trading, but limited to transactions under 10 million KRW.

The problem is that this feature is alleged to be a direct copy of a service that has already been operating on another unlisted stock trading platform for three months. Earlier, fintech startup PSX introduced the 'Baro Chegyeol' (Immediate Execution) feature on the unlisted stock trading platform 'Seoul Exchange Unlisted' in December last year. After piloting the unlisted stock trading platform since October 2019, this feature was ambitiously added with the official launch at the end of last year. Detailed functions such as the 10 million KRW limit and quantity specification were already presented at that time. A PSX representative said, "We found out about this during the patent application process for the feature. We have been increasing users by offering this new function, which did not exist in the industry before, as a differentiating weapon for three months, so it is frustrating and disappointing to see the exact same function released later with a similar name."

In the IT startup industry, there are ongoing concerns about plagiarism by large companies. Last month, Korea's top online shopping mall Coupang was embroiled in controversy for attempting to cancel a trademark that a small cosmetics company had cultivated for five years. Coupang explained that they intended to use the trademark because there had been no sales under it for three years, but the cosmetics under that trademark were actually sold on the Coupang platform. Earlier in 2019, Naver's subsidiary Line was accused of copying the domestic app 'Danggeun Market' with its secondhand trading app 'GetIt' launched in Vietnam.

PSX, the operator of Seoul Exchange Unlisted, is a fintech startup with 12 employees, whereas Dunamu, the operator of Securities Plus, is a unicorn (a startup valued at over 1 trillion KRW) expected to have a corporate value exceeding 10 trillion KRW if its virtual currency exchange Upbit is listed on the US stock market. A startup industry insider said, "It is practically difficult to legally prove plagiarism strictly, so it is hard for small companies or startups to have their objections reflected when challenging large corporations." Dunamu responded, "The plagiarism allegations are groundless," adding, "The feature was naturally introduced as a necessary function in the process of expanding the service."