[ad_1]
Following the UMC announcement on October 22 and the progress of the US Department of Justice criminal case involving trade secrets, the US Department of Justice issued an official press release on 28 October US time, declaring that the WBU had pleaded guilty to the case of stealing Micron’s trade secrets and was sentenced. $ 60 million in fines. UMC also announced earlier today that it has reached a settlement agreement with the United States Department of Justice on the trade secrets case.
UMC noted that in the settlement agreement, the United States Department of Justice agreed to rescind UMC’s original charges of conspiracy to carry out economic espionage and conspiracy to steal various Micron trade secrets and patents. UMC admitted to breaching a trade secret, agreed to pay the US government a $ 60 million fine, and cooperated with the Justice Department during a three-year self-administered probation period.
▲ Last announcement of UMC on the 29th. (Source: Public Information Observatory)
This case originated in May 2016. UMC was approved by the Investment Review Committee of the Ministry of Economy and signed a cooperation agreement with Fujian Jinhua. Under the agreement, UMC and Jinhua jointly developed two generations of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) processes. The DRAM process developed in the agreement is not the latest technology, but rather an old technology similar to the technology used in mass production in 2012.
UMC noted in the announcement that in order to openly hire engineers for the DRAM cooperation case with Fujian Jinhua, no employee can bring prior company information to UMC, and there are a number of protection and prevention policies and measures for their own trade secrets and others. However, two former Taiwan Micron employees who participated in the DRAM cooperation case violated the employment contract and statement signed with UMC, and brought the information from the previous company to UMC and used it as a reference at work.
UMC stated that when the company learned of the foregoing, it immediately took the necessary measures to confirm that the process technology developed did not contain unauthorized information. The first generation DRAM process technology mentioned in the cooperation agreement was transferred to Jinhua under the agreement in September 2018. UMC has never intended or transferred unauthorized information to Jinhua.
However, according to the US Trade Secrets Protection Act, even if an employee violates company policies without the knowledge of the company’s top management, the company must be legally responsible for the behavior of the employees. Therefore, in the settlement agreement, UMC acknowledges and accepts the responsibility caused by the violation of the law by the employees.
Hong Jiacong, President of UMC, also stated in this agreement that UMC, as one of the leading companies in the development of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, has continued to develop semiconductors and other technologies for 40 years and plays a key role in the chain. global supply of semiconductors. More than a third of UMC’s revenue comes from the United States and it has long-term business relationships with US customers and suppliers. Recently, UMC has also cooperated with US companies to produce semiconductor chips in respirators needed to combat COVID-19.
A few years ago, the government approved in advance UMC to participate in cooperative DRAM development projects with its own professional knowledge and experience and rich R&D resources. When UMC executives discover inappropriate employee behavior, they take action immediately, including launching internal investigations and preventing any unauthorized information from being used or distributed. Given this, UMC will continue to implement and strengthen policies and measures related to the protection and prevention of trade secrets, including the mechanism for the supervision of confidential information, education, training and auditing of intellectual property rights protection, etc., to ensure that the daily operations comply with the intellectual property rights and assets of the company. Security protection policy.
Hong Jiacong pointed out that UMC is very pleased to reach an agreement with the US government. In the future, the company will continue to provide competitive products and services in various fields.
(Source of the first image: UMC)
New knowledge of science and technology, always updated
[ad_2]
