Prosecutors Indict Daewoong Pharmaceutical for Filing Lawsuit to Hinder Competitor Sales with Fake Patents

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution has indicted Daewoong Pharmaceutical and its employees on charges of registering false patents to obstruct the sale of a competitor's digestive medicine.

The Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Ko Jin-won) announced on the 19th that four current and former employees of Daewoong Pharmaceutical were indicted without detention on charges of obstruction of official duties by deception. Daewoong Pharmaceutical and its holding company Daewoong were also brought to trial on charges of violating the Fair Trade Act.

According to the prosecution, Mr. A, head of the formulation team at Daewoong Pharmaceutical, and Mr. B, head of the Intellectual Property (IP) team, are accused of manipulating test data in January 2015 to deceive patent examiners and subsequently filing a patent application for the digestive medicine "AlbisD" in January of the following year.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical is accused of filing a patent infringement injunction lawsuit in February 2016 based on the false patent after competitor Anguk Yakpum released a generic drug, using this fact as a marketing tool to obstruct Anguk Yakpum's market entry and lure customers from the competitor.

The Fair Trade Commission detected these charges in March last year, imposed a fine of 2.287 billion KRW on Daewoong Pharmaceutical, and reported the corporation to the prosecution. Through investigation, the prosecution also confirmed the employees' patent manipulation charges. Additionally, during a raid in March, Mr. C, head of the company's new product center, was indicted without detention on charges of hiding a laptop and deleting data (evidence concealment and destruction).