Tech secrets are obviously worth a lot of money. But that doesn't mean stealing and selling them is worth the risk, as 11 people likely learned today when police arrested them on suspicion of leaking Samsung display technology secrets.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap News Agency, police arrested 11 people in Suwon, South Korea today for leaking proprietary information on AMOLED Samsung displays. Specifically, the information related to "small mask scanning" technology, which makes it possible to build large-scale AMOLED displays for televisions.
The main suspect is an unnamed 46-year-old former researcher at Samsung Mobile Display who reportedly received 190 million won (around $170,000) for selling the information to a rival company. The suspect is accused of leaking the information in November 2011, after he began working at the rival company.
Currently, AMOLED displays are mainly used in smaller devices such as smartphones and tablets. Samsung, however, showed off its first 55-inch AMOLED TV at CES 2012, and plans to make the TV available later this year.
We still don't know which company bought the leaked information. But some are speculating that it could have been LG, as the suspect company is working on similar products and display technologies.
