Samsung ordered by court to pay $5.5 million to ex-worker

A South Korean court has ordered Samsung Electronics to pay millions of dollars to a former employee who developed key technologies for the firm's lucrative TV business, an official said Thursday.

The ex-worker surnamed Chung had filed a suit against Samsung accusing it of scrimping on bonus payments after he had developed some 20 technologies later patented for the firm's TV business from 1991 to 1995.

Seoul Central District Court ordered Samsung to pay him about 6.0 billion won ($5.5 million), noting that the technologies in question had earned the electronics giant profits estimated at 60 billion won, a court spokesman told AFP.

"It is reasonable to pay the creator of the technologies money worth 10 percent of the profits given Chung's role," the court ruled.

It was not immediately clear whether Samsung would appeal.

The world's top maker of flat-screen TVs and smartphones is embroiled in a string of legal rows, including a bitter patent battle with rival Apple.