After 13 Years, US Semiconductor Giant Lam Loses IP Infringement Case in China (scmp.com) 25
Long-time Slashdot reader hackingbear quotes the South China Morning Post:
After a 13-year legal tussle, semiconductor equipment giant Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment of China (AMEC) has won an intellectual property infringement case against US competitor Lam Research Corp in a Shanghai court, as US-China technology rivalry in the semiconductor field rages on. The Shanghai People's High Court gave a final ruling requiring Lam Research to destroy "one technical document and two photographs" relating to an AMEC plasma etching machine that Lam illegally obtained, according to a statement by AMEC on Tuesday.
The court has also banned two individual defendants from Lam from using AMEC's proprietary trade secrets. The court ordered Lam Research to pay damages and legal fees to AMEC for the infringement.
The court has also banned two individual defendants from Lam from using AMEC's proprietary trade secrets. The court ordered Lam Research to pay damages and legal fees to AMEC for the infringement.
Re:But, But, The Government Said That China (Score:4, Informative)
More interesting than the fact that this time the shoe is on the other foot, is this sentence from TFA:
Lam Research has stated previously that US export controls may cost it up to US$2.5 billion in annual sales.
It seems like this ruling is probably the least of their worries.
Re:But, But, The Government Said That China (Score:5, Informative)
The fruits of a 30-second search online:
"We Were Pirates, Too. Why America was the China of the 19th century".
https://foreignpolicy.com/2012... [foreignpolicy.com]
"The Spies Who Launched America’s Industrial Revolution"
https://www.history.com/news/i... [history.com]
"In trade wars of 200 years ago, the pirates were Americans"
https://apnews.com/general-new... [apnews.com]
"The US complains that others steal its technology, but America was once a tech pirate itself"
https://theworld.org/stories/2... [theworld.org]
Re: But, But, The Government Said That China (Score:5, Insightful)
IP laws predominantly serve the interest of entrenched players, both at the corporate and national level. That China steals technology isn't surprising, they have a massive amount to gain and little to lose. In reality the trade relationship that was forged over the last 40 years or so shouldn't have happened. What the US gained from it was superficial and transient (throwaway goods), while what it lost was tangible (a strong industial base, and a stable middle class). The theory that trade would "reform" nations with dictatorial governments and usher in an age of peace and prosperity has proven to be foolish, and the benefits of this fiasco for the West have flowed mostly to a select few.
It's useless to blame the Chinese, and frankly it really isn't their fault. They made the rationale choice, and have benefitted tremendously from it. But it's time for the West to wake up and stop allowing it to continue. Globalization isn't inherently bad, but it needs extreme guardrails that consider more than just the superficial economics of a given transaction. Letting a dictatorial ethnostate rocket ahead technologically in exchange for cheap trinkets is going to go down in history as one of the dumbest strategic blunders ever.
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It has ushered in an age of increased prosperity for billions of people - just not the people in the west where the surplus only went to the 1%. The solution isn't to reduce the prosperity of the billions outside of the west, but to better share the prosperity within the west.
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"It has ushered in an age of increased prosperity for billions of people - just not the people in the west where the surplus only went to the 1%"
It ground down many millions of people in being slaves, which appears to be a time-honored fact of human history.
It also destroyed vast swaths of the environment in Asia, caused premature deaths of millions & undid any hope we had of mitigating climate change before the year 2000 which was believed to be possible in the 80s when the subject began to take hold i
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What's that got to do with this case?
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Ah yes, whataboutism.
Guess what sunshine, the world changed between 1918 and 1948. Try keeping up. And stop supporting autocratic dictatorships that engage in human rights abuses and slave work camps. Don't bother saying the USA is no different until you go hold up posters with Winnie the Pooh and Xi side by side in Tiananmen Square, and make it back after 10 years in a Chinese prison.
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"and make it back after 10 years in a Chinese prison."
Contingent on your organs not being a match for a high-level party official in need.
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Thanks, ferocitus! I really appreciated and enjoyed your comment. Needless to say, I completely agree. But there's not much point wasting time and effort on - what you called him.
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America has done & still does plenty of bad stuff but what raiding did they do of China?
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Try reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] for a start - and notice the first prominent cartoon with Uncle Sam calling the shots.
You might also read some of James Bradley's books, such as "The China Mirage" and "The Imperial Cruise". From the former:
"The foreign devils were demanding the right to poison three hundred million people with their opium while continuing to stay beyond the reach of the emperor’s jurisdiction. Just as shocking to the Chinese, the barbarians demanded that foreign-devil amb
just don't pay and force them to get an US judge (Score:3)
just don't pay and force them to get an US judge to take the case in an US court
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Zero details about the case, but I'm not seeing where Lam Research hacked into AMEC and rifled through all their IP like China routinely does.
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Chinese Hackers Suspected Of Airbus Cyberattacks
https://www.forbes.com/sites/z... [forbes.com]
Who is Lam? (Score:2)
I have never heard of them. That said, yes, if you want strict IP laws, expect them to be used against you.
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Ah, so a tool maker, not a semiconductor maker. Thanks.
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"Court" needs hard quotes in China. (Score:1)
Lets see how this plays put (Score:2)