Okay-Discovery: How Korea’s New Authorized Software Might Lastly Let Startups Show When Giants Steal Their Tech – KoreaTechDesk

Korea’s startup safety framework has reached a turning level. The introduction of the Korean-style Discovery System (Okay-Discovery) offers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a long-denied energy: the authorized means to safe proof when their expertise is stolen. It’s greater than authorized reform—it’s the long-missing bridge between enforcement and equity in Korea’s innovation economic system.

Nationwide Meeting Passes Okay-Discovery to Strengthen Startup Proof Rights

The Nationwide Meeting handed an modification to the “Act on the Promotion of Win-Win Cooperation Between Giant Enterprises and SMEs (Win-Win Cooperation Act)” on January 29, 2026, formally creating the Okay-Discovery system, in line with stories from Newsis, Cash Immediately, News1, and ChosunBiz.

The modification, led by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), allows SMEs affected by expertise theft to entry proof by way of court-approved investigations, doc preservation, and recorded testimonies.

The measure is a part of the Lee Jae-myung administration’s broader nationwide agenda to remove SME expertise theft—one of many core targets of the 2025 “SME Know-how Theft Eradication Plan.” It follows a number of earlier authorities actions, together with elevating most fines for theft from KRW 2 billion to KRW 5 billion and forming a six-ministry joint activity drive to unify enforcement throughout businesses.

Till now, SMEs confronted overwhelming boundaries in proving theft. In 2024 alone, 299 infringement instances had been recorded, with common losses per firm reaching KRW 1.82 billion, in line with MSS information. But solely 32.9% of lawsuits had been gained by victims, and acknowledged compensation averaged simply 17.5% of claimed damages—numbers that exposed how structural drawback stored justice out of attain.

The Core of Okay-Discovery: Knowledgeable Investigation, Testimony, and Information Preservation

The brand new system introduces three authorized devices that redefine how expertise theft instances proceed in Korean courts:

1. Knowledgeable Reality-Discovering — Courts can now appoint unbiased specialists to analyze alleged misuse, go to firm workplaces or factories, and entry information. Their findings are acknowledged as legitimate authorized proof.
2. Out-of-Court docket Testimony — Events might conduct recorded or video-based questioning outdoors the courtroom, decreasing procedural friction.
3. Proof Preservation Orders — Judges can order custodians of vital supplies to stop destruction or alteration of paperwork and information throughout trial.

The legislation additionally expands the scope of safety to cowl pre-contract expertise misuse—a niche typically exploited in subcontracting—and grants courts the proper to demand administrative investigation supplies from the MSS for quicker case decision.

Authorities Statements: A Systemic Turning Level for SME Safety

MSS Minister Han Seong-sook emphasised that the brand new framework represents a structural breakthrough:

“The Korean-style Discovery System marks an institutional turning level that ensures SMEs acquire actual entry to proof. We’re dedicated to making a market setting the place applied sciences developed by way of the laborious work of small enterprises are correctly valued and guarded.”

Officers from the Presidential Coverage Planning Committee highlighted that Okay-Discovery fulfills one of many 123 key nationwide coverage duties launched in 2025. The laws gained momentum after President Lee Jae-myung publicly questioned the deterrence energy of present penalties, pushing ministries to maneuver from rhetoric to measurable enforcement instruments.

Ecosystem Influence: From Deterrence to Proof

For Korea’s startup ecosystem, Okay-Discovery closes the loop between penalty and proof.
Earlier reforms made theft costlier. Now, they make justice attainable.

By granting courts and specialists the ability to examine and protect proof, Okay-Discovery addresses what business stakeholders known as the “blind spot” in expertise safety—the place massive companies held all vital information, leaving victims defenseless.

Specialists say the reform brings Korea nearer to OECD-level IP governance, much like discovery procedures within the U.S., Germany, and Japan.

Professor Oh Dong-yoon of Dong-A College commented in Newsis that this represents “a totally new dimension in addressing expertise theft, offering authorized grounds for truthful participation.”

Trade teams echo that sentiment. A enterprise sector consultant famous to Newsis that “this method lastly ranges the taking part in subject—SMEs can now substantiate what they already know to be true.”

Nonetheless, some coverage analysts, together with Noh Min-seon of the Korea Small Enterprise Institute, cautioned that actual deterrence nonetheless relies on sentencing power and constant enforcement, saying that with out significant penalties, the legislation’s promise may fade into formality.

World Significance: Aligning Korea with Worldwide Authorized Requirements

For international buyers and international founders coming into Korea, the Okay-Discovery framework enhances institutional transparency and predictability in mental property disputes.

In markets the place due diligence more and more relies on IP integrity, this method alerts that Korea is able to be judged by worldwide authorized norms somewhat than home administrative discretion.
It additionally strengthens the credibility of cross-border partnerships involving AI, deep tech, and manufacturing startups—sectors most weak to unauthorized replication.

By constructing authorized parity between startups and conglomerates, Korea is asserting that innovation possession will not be negotiable, even in a hierarchical industrial panorama.

Epilogue: Justice because the Infrastructure of Innovation

The Okay-Discovery Act displays a deeper shift in Korea’s innovation governance—from ethical attraction to procedural functionality. Enforcement now not relies on goodwill or bureaucratic discretion however on mechanisms that make proof accessible and accountability measurable.

Its actual take a look at will are available in execution: how swiftly courts appoint specialists, how rigorously proof is preserved, and the way equitably the system operates throughout firm sizes. However one factor is obvious—the foundations of engagement in Korea’s innovation economic system have modified.

Key Takeaway on Tech Theft Okay-Discovery System

• The Okay-Discovery system was formally enacted by way of the Win-Win Cooperation Act modification handed by Korea’s Nationwide Meeting on January 29, 2026.
• It empowers SMEs to safe and current proof in expertise theft instances by way of expert-led investigations, recorded questioning, and information preservation orders.
• Reported by Newsis, Cash Immediately, News1, ChosunBiz, Etnews, and Edaily, the legislation builds on President Lee Jae-myung’s 2025–2026 SME safety agenda.
• The reform aligns Korea’s IP enforcement nearer to U.S. and European discovery requirements, addressing long-standing proof asymmetry.
• Specialists view it because the last structural piece in Korea’s broader effort to guard startup innovation by way of authorized, administrative, and institutional reforms.
• Its effectiveness will rely on how shortly and constantly the system is applied by courts, ministries, and knowledgeable our bodies.

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