A Seoul court on Thursday sentenced four people to suspended prison terms for their involvement in stealing key technologies of Samsung Electronics Co. and handing them over to its rival Hynix Semiconductor Inc.

According to Yonap News agancy, one Samsung employee along with two SK Hynix workers and one of its subcontractors received suspended prison sentences of up to a year.

The case dates back almost three years, in which chip subcontractor Applied Materials was accused of stealing semiconductor secrets from Samsung and supplying 13 of the 95 leaked business secrets to SK Hynix.

The Korean prosecutors indicted eighteen defendents from Samsung, SK Hynix and Applied Materials, but no high-level management employees were reported to be involved.

Applied Materials and Samsung arrived at a civil settlement late in 2010.