According to Taiwan media reports, last Friday, the Taichung Prefecture Court of Taiwan, Taiwan, made a judgment on the case that UD was accused of assisting Fujian Jinhua for stealing the production technology of the American technology major Micron (Micron) dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Rong, He and Wang were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 4 and a half years to 6 and a half years respectively. UMC was fined NT$100 million (equivalent to RMB 23.9 million).
It is understood that the "fuse" of this case was that UMC cooperated with Fujian Jinhua to develop 32nm DRAM technology. Three Taiwanese Micron executives randomly transferred to UMC to cause suspicion of commercial espionage. This eventually led to judicial litigation between Micron, UMC and Fujian Jinhua in the United States, mainland China and Taiwan.
On June 12, 2020, after trial by Taichung Prefecture Court in Taiwan, China, the following was formally made: Chen was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison, and a fine of NT$5 million (1.195 million yuan), Wang was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison, and a fine of NT$4 million (956,000 yuan), Rong was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison, and a fine of NT$6 million (1.433 million yuan), and a fine of NT$1.52 million (1.433 million yuan), and the confiscation of the three people's salary income ranged from NT$1.52 million to NT$5.43 million (360,000 to NT$1.2975 million); Chen, who once served as general manager of Taiwan Micron and deputy general manager of UMC, is currently being investigated by the prosecution, and UMC was fined NT$100 million (23.9 million yuan), However, it can still be appealed to the Intellectual Property Court.
Lin Yuansen, the Administrative Criminal Court of Taichung, Taiwan, said that according to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Cases Trial Law, if litigation materials involve commercial secrets, the trial will not be disclosed. In addition, Lin Yuansen said that the case was tried by the Intellectual Property Group of the Court and was tried together in criminal and civil terms. This case is different from other criminal cases. If the defendant is found guilty, he or she can appeal to the Intellectual Property Court instead of the Taichung High School. The case of
can be traced back to the 2016 China Unit signed a technical cooperation agreement with Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Company. The cooperation agreement at that time was that China Unit assisted Fujian Jinhua to develop 32nm DRAM-related process technology. Later, three executives from Micron, Taiwan, were transferred to UMC. Later, Micron believed that three employees who had worked at Micron stole Micron's DRAM process technology when they joined UMC, causing suspicion of commercial espionage cases.
In 2017, Taichung District Prosecutor's Office in Taiwan sued UMC for violating the Business Secrets Act, and assisting Rong, as well as former Micron executives in Taiwan, China, He and Wang, who later joined UMC.
In 2018, the US Department of Justice prosecuted UMC, Fujian Jinhua, He, Wang, and Chen, Fujian Jinhua, who was once the general manager of Micron, Taiwan and China Vice President of UMC, and others for economic espionage. Once the relevant charges are convicted, the prosecutors including Chen Zhengkun will face up to 15 years in prison for economic espionage and a fine of US$5 million. In addition, the case also involves the crime of stealing business secrets, and the person involved faces up to 10 years in prison.
It should be noted that once UMC and Fujian Jinhua are charged in the United States, they may face a fine of up to US$20 billion.
Some analysts pointed out that in the context of the Sino-US trade war, Taiwan, China is under pressure from the United States and is willing to impose heavy penalties on leading local enterprises. The judgment will have an adverse impact on the business development of China UniD.com and will also cast a shadow on the future cooperation between Taiwan and Taiwan enterprises and the mainland. More importantly, the mainland storage industry has been "targeted" and we need to be vigilant about the possibility of further blows in the future.
UTC issued a statement: Dissatisfied with the verdict, and will appeal
In response to this verdict, UTC issued a statement recently, emphasizing that it has not violated the Trade Secret Law and will appeal the guilty verdict and high fines in accordance with the law.
UMC will appeal the verdict of Micron's case》
Regarding the Taichung Prefecture Court's guilty verdict today on the case of Micron's accusation of Micron's and others of stealing business secrets, UMC said it will appeal in accordance with the law.
The research and development of DRAM process technology is a special project approved by the Taiwan Investment Review Committee in advance. It is a research and development team composed of more than 300 engineers based on its own technology (most of which are experienced R&D personnel of UMC) that work together to take more than two years to independently develop DRAM processes and retain relevant R&D records. We hope that DRAM R&D talents and R&D results trained by this process can be retained in Taiwan. In addition to the efforts of engineers, UMC's years of accumulated R&D experience and inheritance are also the mainstay of driving development.
UMC is Taiwan's first semiconductor company. It has always operated with integrity and respected intellectual property rights. It has contributed a lot to the development of Taiwan's semiconductor industry and talent training. All UMC technologies are independently developed by the R&D team or obtained authorization from a third party.
In order to effectively protect customers' intellectual property rights, including business secrets, UMC has a sound information grading, access control and supervision mechanism in every link of its operation. UMC will regularly provide employees with education and training related to intellectual property protection to improve their legal awareness; conduct regular audits to ensure that employees' business execution complies with the company's intellectual property protection policy. In addition to the policies and actions mentioned above, UMC has also continued to introduce more meticulous and advanced management measures and systems in order to continuously strengthen and improve the management of smart property rights.
UMC did not violate the Business Secret Law, and will appeal the guilty verdict and high fines in accordance with the law. During the appeal trial, UMC will raise many controversial aspects of the investigation and trial of this case that violates the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law, such as improper inducing interrogation during the interrogation process; statements that are beneficial to UMC cannot be recorded in detail in the investigation records; electromagnetic and other evidence do not comply with the requirements in terms of forensicity, etc. UMC firmly believes that if the Court of Appeal can review the evidence in this case in accordance with the law and impartially, it will prove that UMC has not violated the Business Secret Law.
As for Micron, it expressed support for the verdict and stated that in response to the verdict, UMC issued a statement recently emphasizing that it had not violated the Trade Secret Law and would appeal the guilty verdict and high fines in accordance with the law.
Micron Technology Statement
In response to this major criminal case of violation of the Business Secret Law, Micron welcomes the Taichung District Court of Taiwan, China to make a guilty verdict on Lianhua Electronics Co., Ltd. and the three employees involved in the case. We deeply thank the Taichung District Court of Taiwan, China for its appropriate handling.
Micron has invested billions of dollars in the past 40 years to continue to develop industry-leading advanced technologies, and has been engaged in process development and technological innovation in Taiwan, China for a long time. In this process, thousands of colleagues from Taiwan, jointly participated in the development of the company's smart property. Micron's business secret was stolen in Taiwan, China, and even illegally exported
This case has had a huge negative impact on the overall development of Taiwan's semiconductor industry, and it even endangers the long-term international competitiveness of the industry in the future. Micron will continue to vigorously defend Micron's intellectual property rights from infringement on a global scale.
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