TSMC ordered to pay $30.5M for misuse of UniRAM's eDRAM trade secrets

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 9/26/2007

A California district court in San Francisco ruled against foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) on Tuesday, declaring that the company pay $30.5 million in damages to UniRAM Technology Inc. for misuse of UniRAM's trade secrets.

The verdict came after a two-week trial in which the Mountain View, Calif.-based UniRAM asserted that TSMC had misappropriated its trade secrets relating to the design of embedded DRAM.

As far as TSMC is concerned, however, the case is not yet closed. In a statement issued yesterday, TSMC said it has the right to file post trial motions as well as to take appeal to the ruling.

"TSMC has always held itself to the highest standards of respect for intellectual property, and believes that this verdict is in error," Dick Thurston, TSMC's VP and general counsel, said in a statement. "We intend to pursue all defenses vigorously."

UniRAM could not be reached by Electronic News for immediate comment on the ruling.

This is not the only trade secret related litigation in which TSMC is currently entangled. Earlier this month, the company expressed confidence that it would soon see a favorable ruling in its lawsuit against China-based foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) dating back to 2004, when TSMC filed court papers alleging that SMIC engaged in corporate espionage to obtain TSMC's trade secrets.