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| Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee Young, right, listens to Algocare CEO Joung Ji-won's explanation about the startup's nutrient dispenser during the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 6. Courtesy of Ministry of SMEs and Startups |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Lotte Healthcare has come into conflict with the government over its alleged stealing of a local startup's technology, which was then incorporated into one of its own products and later displayed at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this month.
Both companies were displaying pill dispensing machines at this year's event.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said Wednesday night that it had sent a technology theft investigator and a lawyer to a healthcare startup named Algocare on Tuesday, as soon as the ministry became aware of Lotte Healthcare's alleged stealing of the startup's pill dispenser technology.
"The experts introduced possible legal actions against the damage and governmental programs to support victims," the ministry said in a press release. "If the victim asks us for arbitration, we will make efforts to mediate the dispute as soon as possible. If arbitration fails to resolve the issue, we will finance the victim to take legal action."
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| Lotte Healthcare's pill dispensers are on display at the company's exhibition booth during the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in this January file photo. Korea Times photo by Song Ju-yong |
The ministry issued the press release a few hours after Algocare posted a statement online alleging that the conglomerate displayed an imitation of the startup's Nutrition Engine nutrient dispenser at the world's most influential tech event.
At this year's CES, Algocare received an innovation award with the dispenser which will be available in March.
The startup said that the conglomerate used the information it had acquired through several meetings between the two companies from September to October 2021. The two companies decided not to form a partnership after those meetings.
"When we were displaying our product at the K-Startup exhibition booth for the CES 2023 on Jan. 5, some visitors told us that they had seen the same product at Lotte's booth," Algocare CEO Joung Ji-won said in a statement. "After visiting Lotte Healthcare's booth, we found out that the company was promoting its product and service by plagiarizing Algocare's idea."
Joung, a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, who previously worked for four years at Korea's largest law firm, Kim & Chang, also disclosed specifications of both companies' products and voice records of her telephone conversations with Lotte Healthcare Executive General Manager Woo Woong-jo.
She said that Algocare filed a lawsuit against Lotte Healthcare over its alleged violations of the Fair Trade Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
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| Lotte Healthcare's Fillkey, a smart pill dispenser, left, and Algocare's Nutrition Engine nutrient dispenser on the right / Courtesy of Algocare |
Lotte Healthcare denied Algocare's claim, saying its Fillkey, a smart pill dispenser adopted a different mechanism, so that it can dispense various types of pills, regardless of their shape and size.
"After we quit talking with Algocare in October 2021, we decided to produce our own dispenser and tasked a Lotte Group affiliate, Canon Korea, with the project," Lotte Healthcare said in a press release.
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