Source: Jiwei.com
As Sino-US negotiations try to end the trade war, a key aspect of the conflict between the two countries - criminal prosecutions suspected of stealing trade secrets, the United States seeks new strategies to combat China's vision of mass production of memory chips.
According to foreign media reports, on Wednesday local time, Fujian Jinhua and its partner Taiwan UD were accused of stealing trade secrets in the federal court of San Francisco. Jinhua and UD RT are expected to defend their innocence.
The US Department of Justice emphasized cracking down on China's illegal
This is the first case of a "China Initiative" cracking down on commercial spies announced by the US Department of Justice in November last year. The proposal emphasizes the trial of trade theft cases as soon as possible. It is reported that U.S. prosecutors have adopted new strategies in the operation, adding some experimental methods to layered law enforcement actions to ensure a firm message is conveyed: If China steals technology, it will not be impunity.
After the announcement of the proposal, Assistant Inspector John C. Demers said in an interview that he hoped to use all possible tools to make the consequences of such behavior financially unsustainable.
Bloomberg said the U.S. Department of Justice is testing a new rule that can make it easier to file criminal proceedings against foreign companies outside the United States, and similar cases in the past are often difficult to achieve. In some cases, the defendants turned a blind eye to the allegations with the help of U.S. lawyers and the Chinese government. However, in the case of Jinhua and UMC, Jinhua has agreed to attend Wednesday's trial, and his lawyer said that UMC will also appear in court.
Prosecutors also used the provisions of the Economic Espionage Act for the first time, which dates back to 1996 and stipulates related civil lawsuits to accuse trade secrets of theft in addition to criminal indictments. The United States hopes to prevent Jinhua from exporting DRAM products made from technology stolen from Micron through civil lawsuits.
At the same time, the United States also takes a multi-pronged approach. On October 30 last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce prevented American companies from providing products and services to Jinhua, which affected the company's DRAM mass production process. So far, China is the largest DRAM market, and China has also regarded it as a key area of development in the country, in order to end its dependence on the annual import of US$200 billion chips.
Jinhua and UMC both denied the US allegations. The trial is scheduled to begin next month on the part of the three Taiwanese citizens accused of conspiring with the company to steal trade secrets.
UnitedDirect lawyer Leslie Caldwell said in an email that UnitedDirect has received subpoenas from both criminal and civil lawsuits and will appear in court.
From the perspective of criminal proceedings, U.S. prosecutors are expected to win an order requiring Jinhua and UMC to give up their income from suspected stolen technology and ban the use of related Micron's technology for five years.
However, California intellectual property lawyer Ashok Ramani pointed out that only after Jinhua and UMC are convicted can they give up related technologies and income, which may take a long litigation process. He said civil litigation allows prosecutors to quickly take targeted orders to prevent defendants from exporting chips before a criminal case is heard (similar to the injunction in the lawsuit?).
Christopher Seaman, a professor at Washington and Lee Law School, said part of the criminal indictment was to show the U.S. business in this regard. If Micron wants compensation, it is a civil case.
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