Issue #22 : Spies R Us
Happy Monday!
The US Federal Reserve may have hit pause on rate hikes, but the APAC disputes news cycle certainly hasn't. And boy, do we have a lot of headlines for you today!
India: Allahabad High Court restrains broadcast of Al Jazeera documentary "India... Who lit the fuse?"
India: Delhi Hindu Sena chief files suit against "Adipurush", claiming it mocks the Ramayana
India: Xiaomi to fight New Delhi's decision to freeze USD 670 million of its funds
Nepal: Nepal wins its first & only ICSID case brought under the UK-Nepal bilateral investment treaty by Malaysia's Axiata Group
South Korea: South Korea files $35 million lawsuit against North Korea for blowing up a joint liaison office in 2020
Taiwan: Former Hsinchu mayor settles plagiarism dispute after mediation
Ling Yah
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Copycat in Trouble
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
We all know how important semiconductors are to South Korea. It accounted for nearly 17% of its total exports in 2022!
Which makes Samsung Electronics' recent drama all the more tantalising.
🍿 What Happened?
A former senior executive Samsung Executive has been charged with violating South Korea's industrial technology protection and unfair protection prevention laws.
His crime?
Stealing Samsung's trade secrets and attempting to build a copycat chip factory in China.
🤔The Audacity!
This senior executive wasn't shy either. He apparently:
Unlawfully obtained Samsung's proprietary factory blueprints and clean-room designs from 2018 and 2019;
Lured over 200 chip experts from Samsung and Hynix with higher pay; and
Attempted to replicate a chip factory a mere 1.5 km from where Samsung's own factory is in Xi'an!
Talk about bold. 🤯
Given that this breach could've cost Samsung $233 million, we doubt Samsung will be going easy on him any time soon.
Don’t Steal My Secrets!
Here’s another juicy corporate espionage case for you!
It's between Applied Materials Inc, the biggest US supplier of chipmaking equipment, and Mattson - its Chinese-owned rival.
🍿 What Happened?
Applied claims that for the past 14 months, its rival has conducted an employee-poaching spree. It hired 17 of Applied’s most senior engineers in just over 1 year. Former employees who just so happen to be privy to Applied’s chipmaking processes and its technology roadmap.
Moreover, most of Applied’s departing staff had wiped their company-issued phones, refused to disclose their new employer or even lied about it!
🤷🏻♂️ Then there’s Canfeng “Ken” Lai.
This particular ex-employee was found to have sent volumes of information from his Applied email to a personal account.
Lai claims that the information was to be kept as “souvenirs”, but they happen to include 3D renderings and detailed dimensions & material compositions for a new chamber that Applied says would’ve been the first of its kind and enabled the production of advanced high-performance chips.
Given growing US-China tensions & the latter’s attempts to develop its own world-class chip industry, this is definitely one sensitive case to keep an eye on!
Not-So-Bottomless Pockets
No one has bottomless pockets and that includes Stark Corp - one of Thailand's top 100 listed companies.
Back in 2020, Stark was in thick in the midst of a buying spree. Its subsidiary acquired both Thipha, Vietnam's second largest manufacturer of electrical cables, and Dovina, a copper, aluminium and plastic manufacturer, for a princely $240 million.
Then in May 2022, Stark entered into a SPA to acquire Germany's largest automotive cable company, Leoni Automotive Cable Solutions with a ceiling purchase value of € 560 million ("Agreement").
🍿 What Happened?
Stark later defaulted on $260 million worth of bond payments and backed out of the Agreement.
On March 2023, parent company Leoni AG and Leoni Bordnetz-Systeme GmbH filed for arbitration at the German Arbitration Institute to recover € 608 million from Stark for allegedly breaching the Agreement.
Stark claims that they had grounds to exercise their withdrawal rights under the agreement, i.e. Russian-Ukraine war. Specifically, the Agreement allowed Stark to withdraw in the event of any military attack against any sovereign countries in jurisdictions in which it operated and that had a material impact on its financials.
🤫 This Isn't the End
Stark is seeking an extension until Sept 19 to respond to the filing.
Spotlight: Lim Tse Wei (Senior Associate, Herbert Smith Freehills)
⚒️ What do you do?
I am a Senior Associate in the International Arbitration practice at Herbert Smith Freehills and am part of the firm's global team of construction disputes specialists. I also sit on the AIAC Standard Form Contract Expert Advisory Committee.
I help companies navigate the entire life cycle of construction, commercial and investment disputes across the Asia-Pacific, and act as counsel when these matters go to arbitration. My cases usually involve technical engineering issues such as metallurgy, petrochemistry and process engineering.
🏆 What is your proudest achievement?
Having my writing cited as an authority by the Malaysian High Court.
I contributed to a comparative practitioners' text on international arbitration, and I was surprised to see the High Court naming me and reproducing my views on the state of arbitration-related jurisdictional challenges under Malaysian law.
⌛ There are now 25 hours in a day! How do you spend your extra hour?
Spending it at the bouldering gym. I have been doing the sport for over a decade and it is amazing how large the community has grown, especially in Singapore. You also meet some very interesting people through the sport.
🚀 If you weren't a lawyer, what would you do?
A civil engineer. I enjoy analysing technical engineering documents and figuring out how the infrastructure that we use every day are designed and built.
😋 Your favourite food haunt
I have joined the great Singapore debate. My new pick-me-up is Hoe Hokkien Mee at the North Bridge Road Food Centre followed by some great filter coffee at Zerah Coffee Roasters which is just a minute away.
*Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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