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AMD Employee Charged With Stealing Intel Secrets

IWonderWhatICanPutInThisFieldWithoutBeingDeleted writes "A man who once worked for Intel and then jumped ship to join AMD has been accused of stealing his erstwhile employer's chip secrets. Federal detectives allege they discovered 19 CAD designs and more than 100 pages of confidential Intel documentation."

10 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Re:... and AMD wouldn't even touch the info by RulerOf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    (AMD) would never touch the stolen info with a 10-foot pole.

    Even if they couldn't directly plagiarize the information to enhance their current architecture (I understand there are a lot of very fundamental differences between them), it would be valuable to AMD if they could determine, for example, how fast Intel's next gen chip is going to be in order to make a product that would be able to compete better, even if it meant sacrificing margins.

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  2. Alleged motive: to impress his new employer by rickkas7 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Poaching the dumb employees from your competitor is probably not the most sound business plan, either.

    1. Re:Alleged motive: to impress his new employer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Pani's alleged motive: to impress his new employer" ... because it would impress me to have a potential new hire admit he stole proprietary information from his prior employer...

      I'd thank him, and not make an offer - because he's pretty much admitted if you hire him and he leaves your company, he'll take *your* proprietary information with him too!! LOL

  3. Re:On the plus side... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We all steal IP when we leave. Most of us do it in our heads however.

  4. Re:On the plus side... by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh holy spagetti monster, every IT person and CS person absolutely rapes the IP when they leave.

    In my boxes that I used to clean out my desk is at least 30 confidential documents that were packed there by the moving company, (I got to keep my desk! that was cool!) and I know I have copies of all the code I wrote when I was there as well as all the SQL queries I wrote.

    I have yet to meet someone that says, "I just left company X, no I don't have anything from my old job..." or " I cant fix that, I fixed that at company Y and they own the IP to that fix."

    All of you rape and pillage IP when you leave. Accidentally or on purpose, you do it. Being a moron and trying to SELL that or taking it with malicious intent? that is the kicker. if he had it because that is how his desk was packed up for him then it's not his fault, nor is he liable for anything.

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  5. Re:... and AMD wouldn't even touch the info by rumblin'rabbit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And generally they want to promote a culture of honesty and integrity. If Pepsi employees think it's okay to steal from Coke, they'll think it's okay to steal from Pepsi.

    Certain political radicals would claim that capitalism is inherently dishonest and corrupt. Although there is plenty of that, they would be amazed at the degree of integrity required to run a successful business.

  6. Re:... and AMD wouldn't even touch the info by eebra82 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    [..] it would be valuable to AMD if they could determine, for example, how fast Intel's next gen chip is going to be in order to make a product that would be able to compete better, even if it meant sacrificing margins.

    Help me explain your theory here. What you are suggesting is that AMD is working at less than full capacity because they don't know what Intel is prepping in the future? These two companies are bittersweet rivals and knowing that your opponent's product will be 200% faster than the previous one is not going to make AMD's scientists think harder.

    Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

  7. Re:... and AMD wouldn't even touch the info by rumblin'rabbit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And I can only assume that you are very young or haven't spent much time in business. You appear to have drunk the cool-aid that Hollywood and others have prepared about what free enterprize is truly about.

    The basic formula is this: Low integrity loses you both customers and employees. That's not to say that you can't make a profit doing this, but it's the more difficult route.

    And no, I'm not an owner or executive.

  8. Re:... and AMD wouldn't even touch the info by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The basic formula is this: Low integrity loses you both customers and employees. That's not to say that you can't make a profit doing this, but it's the more difficult route.

    Sadly, not true. Low integrity makes you a short-term profit, and selects for e kind of executive who moves to a new company before it's apparent that is company has no future.

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  9. Re:... and AMD wouldn't even touch the info by networkBoy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hate to burst your bubble,
    But neither company is "decades" ahead.
    Both are roughly 4-5 years ahead on transistor design, less so on architecture. Based on what I do know of business, if they were decades ahead on a product they would get it to market ASAP, not sit on it.

    Any time you see a tech company "sitting" on something for a trade show, it's because they are still trying to get it to work as close to flawlessly as possible, not because they are hoarding technology.

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