"All Over the Internet"... Former Employee Accused of Leaking Tanghulu Recipe Cleared of Charges

Tanghulu Franchise Sues All Employees
Police: "Tanghulu Recipe Already Known"

Tanghulu. [Image source=Getty Images]

A former employee accused of leaking trade secrets from a Tanghulu franchise company was cleared of charges.

On the 30th, the Siheung Police Station in Gyeonggi announced that Mr. A, who was suspected of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act, was cleared due to insufficient evidence. Mr. A worked for over a year at a franchise store of a Tanghulu company in the Daejeon area and later opened another Tanghulu shop in Siheung, Gyeonggi. The franchise company claimed that Mr. A had leaked the recipe.

Mr. B, an acquaintance of Mr. A who operates a Tanghulu shop in Suwon, was also accused of recipe theft, but the police decided not to prosecute Mr. B due to insufficient evidence.

A police official stated, "Since the Tanghulu recipe is generally known through the internet and other sources, it is difficult to consider it a trade secret exclusive to the company," adding, "We could not confirm any circumstances indicating that the accused leaked the recipe."