DuPont Co’s manufacturing secrets were stolen by a US businessman who provided them to a Chinese company for US$29 million, prosecutors are set to tell jurors in a trial defense lawyers say may be tainted by “China bashing.”
Walter Liew (劉元軒), a US citizen born in Malaysia who worked as an engineering consultant in California, faces conspiracy charges for allegedly stealing trade secrets from DuPont related to making white pigment used in paper, paint and plastics.
The Wilmington, Delaware-based company is the world’s largest producer of titanium dioxide, which generates global annual sales of US$14 billion.
Opening arguments were scheduled to start yesterday before a jury at a San Francisco federal court.
Liew, 56, is one of more than 20 individuals charged amid a US crackdown on industrial espionage alleged by the government to benefit China.
Liew contends that the information he used was public, not a trade secret, and his lawyer claimed that negative publicity about alleged intellectual property theft by China is “likely to inflame passion and prejudice based on race and nationality.”
Liew was “engaged in a legitimate effort to design a plant within legal boundaries,” his attorney, Stuart Gasner, said in a court filing. “A vast number of details of the DuPont process have been publicly disclosed in numerous patents, textbooks and other sources.”
Prosecutors allege that Liew, who emigrated to the US in 1980 to attend graduate school at the University of Oklahoma and became a citizen in 1992, was asked by high-level Chinese officials more than a decade ago to seek out titanium dioxide technology in the US.
In 2009, Liew, who operated the now-defunct USA Performance Technology Inc, won a contract to help China’s Pangang Group Co (攀鋼集團) design and build the world’s largest titanium dioxide plant in the Chinese city of Chongqing. The project was to use a manufacturing process first invented by DuPont in the 1940s that the company was not willing to license for use in China, prosecutors said.
Liew allegedly obtained DuPont’s trade secrets from former employees of the US company, including flow-sheets and formulas for the manufacturing process, according to an indictment.
Liew was sued by DuPont in 2011 for trade secret theft and charged with conspiracy and attempted economic espionage by US Attorney Melinda Haag in San Francisco. If convicted, he faces as many as 15 years in prison and possibly millions of dollars in fines.
Liew, who is from Orinda, California, about 27.4km east of San Francisco, has been in federal custody since he was arrested.
Two former DuPont employees were also charged, as was Liew’s wife, who is a Chinese citizen and will be tried separately. One of the ex-workers pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, while the other is facing trial with Liew.
While Pangang, one of China’s largest makers of steel products and the country’s largest supplier of titanium products, was also charged in the case, prosecutors have failed to meet the legal requirements for summoning the company and its officials to face trial.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
CHANGE OF FORTUNES: Concern over a pricey valuation and the risk of tighter US curbs on chip sales to China have poured cold water on TSMC’s bullish momentum Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares fell the most in three months yesterday upon trading resumption, joining a global technology rout as investors dramatically soured on the promises of artificial intelligence (AI). The shares declined 5.62 percent to close at NT$924 in Taipei, dragging down the benchmark TAIEX, which fell 3.29 percent to 22,119.21 points amid a technical correction, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Other chip stocks also fell, with ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) plunging 9.86 percent, MediaTek Inc (聯發科) dropping 2.35 percent, Realtek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱) falling 1.33 percent and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) retreating 1.17 percent, while Apple