Why go the morally low route?
Published: 20 Jun. 2013, 21:55
Much more must be done to protect the intellectual property of small start-ups so that potential innovators will not be stifled by overbearing giants like Naver stealing their ideas and using them to dominate the market with copycat products. The only way a country can continue to prosper is through innovation, and innovation can only be achieved in an environment where people with new ideas have a nurturing, intellectual environment in which they don’t have to fear another company swooping in to steal ideas without fear of repercussions.
Stronger regulations and a regulatory body that can enact punishment with teeth to offending companies are necessary if Korea can hope to truly establish itself as a country that can wield influence on a global scale.
And also I must ask, how can Naver and its parent company justify intellectual theft? With a 70 percent market share and billions of won in assets, doesn’t NHN have the resources to have its own creative team to develop new products and to purchase much smaller start-up companies with products it deems to have potential? Why go the morally low route?
It is such a horrible thing to do. I just hope that Korean corporations quickly become cognizant of that.
by Kim Min-Seok, Student at The University of Hong Kong
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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