2 November, 2017
The Taichung Prosecutor’s Office decided on August 31, 2017 to indict two former employees of Micron Memory Taiwan, United Microelectronics Corporation (“UMC”) and one of UMC’s employee for misappropriation of Micron’s trade secrets.
The prosecutor found that the two Micron former employees had illegally obtained Micron’s trade secrets relating to DRAM production process while still working at Micron, and that after leaving Micron for UMC to launch their new positions, they had brought such trade secrets to UMC and used certain trade secrets pursuant to their UMC supervisor’s request, for UMC’s current development of DRAM production for its collaboration project with Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd. in Fujian, China.
The prosecutor therefore found that the three individuals committed the crime of trade secret misappropriation under the Trade Secret Act for misappropriating Micron’s trade secrets with the intention of using in China, and that UMC should also be subject to criminal sanction for its employees’ conducts when performing their job duties at the company. The case is now pending before the Taichung District Court. Tsar & Tsai represents Micron as the complainant in this case.
