Beijing E-Town Semiconductor Technology Co Ltd (屹唐半导体), a semiconductor equipment firm backed by Beijing Municipal People's Government, has sued US chip equipment supplier Applied Materials over alleged trade secrets infringement.
E-Town claims Applied Materials had illegally obtained and used its core technology secrets related to plasma sources and wafer surface treatment, and is seeking 99.99 million yuan ($13.94 million) in compensation.
E-Town alleges that Applied Materials had disclosed technical secrets by applying for a patent in China and claiming the patent's application rights.
In 2016, Beijing E-Town (北京亦庄), an economic development agency of the Beijing Municipal People's Government, acquired California-based Mattson Technology, a semiconductor wafer processing equipment designer and manufacturer, via Beijing E-Town Dragon Semiconductor Industry Investment Center.
Applied Materials sued Mattson in 2022, alleging that it had hired its former employees with the intention of stealing trade secrets. In 2023, Mattson countersued Applied Materials making similar accusations.
In the new case filed with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, E-Town alleged that Applied Materials had hired two former Mattson employees, who were later listed as the principal inventors behind a patent filed by Applied Materials in China.
E-Town claims that the patent, filed with China's intellectual property administration, disclosed confidential technical know-how jointly held by E-Town and Mattson, and that Applied Materials' actions violated China's fair competition law and constituted infringement of its trade secrets.
The Beijing court has reportedly accepted the civil case but no court hearing has yet been held.
reuters.com/legal/litigati
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Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
Applied Materials is suing Fremont-based Mattson, acquired by Beijing-backed Beijing E-Town Dragon Semiconductor Industry Investment Center in 2016, for an orchestrated employee-poaching spree and surreptitious transfers of equipment designs over 14 mths. bloomberg.com/news/articles/