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Samsung's Foldable Screen Tech Has Been Stolen, Sold To China (cnn.com)

Prosecutors in South Korea say that Samsung's latest bendable screen technology has been stolen and sold to two Chinese companies. "The prosecutors allege that a Samsung supplier leaked blueprints of Samsung's 'flexible OLED edge panel 3D lamination' to a company that it had set up," reports CNN. "That company then sold the tech secrets to the Chinese firms for nearly $14 million, according to the prosecutors." CNN reports: The Suwon District Prosecutor's Office charged 11 people on Thursday with stealing tech secrets from Samsung, the office said in a statement. They did not name the people or companies involved in the theft. Samsung Display, a subsidiary of the South Korean conglomerate, said in a statement Friday that it was "surprised and appalled at the results of the investigation by prosecutors."

Prosecutors said Samsung invested six years and some 150 billion won ($130 million) to develop the bendable screen. Investigators have not been able to track down and question two Chinese individuals believed to be involved in the case, and have asked Interpol to help find and detain them. Of the 11 people indicted, three have been detained.

75 comments

  1. iphone 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SO you are saying Foxcon will be installing folding screens in the iphone 11. Cool.

    1. Re: iphone 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this the patent on creating silicone out shards of glass? This has uses elsewhere as well. They make murals of runway models in Tel Aviv out of silicone from used or broken glass. They keep piles and piles of glass from the landfill and give them to artists who build the murals. Kind of like the Hollywood walk of fame.

    2. Re: iphone 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Silicon, not silicone.

    3. Re: iphone 11 by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Yeah.. I don't think you know what silicone is... Think fake titties, not computers

  2. Yeah, well by Presence+Eternal · · Score: 1

    I guess that's bad in principle, but their never ending quest to make phones that cannot fit into protective cases doesn't leave me with any sympathy for them.

    1. Re:Yeah, well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess that's bad in principle, but their never ending quest to make phones that cannot fit into protective cases doesn't leave me with any sympathy for them.

      Considering this incident will probably get the Chinese firms pumping out the same tech sooner, chill investor confidence, and make it a less attractive tech for Samsung long term, all of which may signal layoffs, reorganizations, and postponed research into the tech, you should have some sympathy for them.

      Of course, that's also what you get with Chinese contractors. The Chinese have seen what IP and it's ilk does to an economy, and they sure as hell won't fall for the same trick that the West has fallen for. The Chinese will take advantage of the West's foolishness for as long as they can however, so by all means send your IP to the Chinese. They will laugh at your idiocy all the way to the bank.

  3. Enough with the derping about US history by MikeRT · · Score: 2

    China is not a "developing country" anymore. It hasn't been for about 15-20 years, if not longer. It is to us what the US was to Europe in the 1930s, and by then the federal government would have prosecuted the shit out of such an act, but not a damn thing will be done to any Chinese that escaped the South Korean government unless one of the parties brings a big hammer out against China.

    1. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by mykepredko · · Score: 2

      While I agree that China does not fit the model/ideation of a "developing country" it is not a "developed country".

      While there are many high tech cities and regions, there are huge areas (with large populations) of the country that are still quite primitive in need of infrastructure, education and industry. Along with that, the regions that have become modernized still have some very simplistic ideas towards intellectual property rights as well as what we would consider moral (or at least, contract abiding) behaviour. This is exemplified in this situation where the perpetrators of this crime not only found customers for what they've stolen but they've also able to escape custody (at least so far).

      I think it will be another generation (25 years) before China and her companies can be considered to be fully reliable partners.

    2. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pirates, sailing the China Seas!

      Ahoy there mateys! We've got secrets aplenty to plunder, here on the good ship Most Favored Nation!

    3. Re: Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For real? Most of the US is uninhabited so I guess we aren't developed either.

    4. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It wont happen. China see's IP theft as an inmportant part of their development and has supported and defended it. The see it as just. The USA blocks the purchase of vital IP hard to develp IP then they will just steal it.By hook or crook. They have been stealing every "Bit" they can get their hands on for over a decade.

    5. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is to us what the US was to Europe in the 1930s, and by then the federal government would have prosecuted the shit out of such an act...

      Um, yes and no. There were certainly a lot of patent battles that happened in the US involve European (and US) firms, but plenty were settled in a fashion that I think few in Europe felt were fair or complete in scope to the amount of patent theft that occurred. I'm not justifying our relationship with China, but if you want to argue the analogy, I'd tend to say it's playing out a lot like the situation you described.

    6. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      China see's IP theft as an inmportant part of their development and has supported and defended it.

      Just like South Korea a little while ago, and the US some time before that...

      And why the fuss about imaginary property? I won't be shedding tears until copyright (protection AFTER the creator's death? Ya gotta be shittin' me!) and patent (mathematical constructs (algorithms) are patentable? Yer still shittin' me!) laws are fixed.

    7. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's an industrialized country but not a developed country in the Western sense. USSR was also an industrialized country.

    8. Re: Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More than 10% ofchina lives in caves. We capitalize gdp is like #90 in the world. There are developed areas, but the nation as a whole is definitely still developing.

    9. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So they are just like the United States in that regard, only they have a higher technological basis. Also their population of Native Chinese does not hate China. This contrasts with the United States in that a large population does not like the country they live in.

      If China is not First world, then you would have to say the USA is second world. However you look at it Chinese is kicking the USA's sweet behind.

      Funny thing is that Chinese multinationals hold large stock in USAian media co's. They are funding all this USAian self hatred. I say 'Well played China.'

      While the USA was / is waging a 10+ year war against 'Terrorism' The Chinese are building the economy and infrastructure that will keep the world dependent upon them.

      I don't hate China for playing the game that all strong peoples play. I just blame the USA for dropping the ball and allowing others to usurp their position on the top of the food chain. Bill Clinton's crime was not the fact he had an affair( all strong males have tons of side bitches). The problem is he gave most favorable trading status to the Chinese in return for bribes, aka campaign donations. In that respect he sold out his own people who he was supposed to be representing.

    10. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      "While there are many high tech cities and regions, there are huge areas (with large populations) of the country that are still quite primitive in need of infrastructure, education and industry. "

      But enough about the USA...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Enough with the derping about US history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Chinese companies don't care because they will sell internally to Chinese buyers and to any nation that doesn't give a damn what the South Korean government wants.

  4. None of this happened. by theCat · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The thieves did not sell the stolen tech to a Chinese company, they gave it to the Chinese government. This is a good way to advance yourself in China. As such, there is zero possibility of getting the Chi-Comms to cooperate in an investigation. Samsung can write the entire thing off along with 1,000 other inventions the Chi-Comms lifted over the last few years.

    --
    =^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
    1. Re:None of this happened. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The thieves did not sell the stolen tech to a Chinese company, they gave it to the Chinese government. This is a good way to advance yourself in China. As such, there is zero possibility of getting the Chi-Comms to cooperate in an investigation. Samsung can write the entire thing off along with 1,000 other inventions the Chi-Comms lifted over the last few years.

      You have a misunderstanding of China and the Chinese desire to get ahead financially by any means necessary.

    2. Re:None of this happened. by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      The thieves did not sell the stolen tech to a Chinese company, they gave it to the Chinese government.

      Most likely they did both. It is highly probably that whatever Chinese company bought the tech is associated with someone high up in either a major city government, the central government, Communist party, or PLA leadership.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  5. I'm torn by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

    On the one hand, we need to protect IP so that people keep producing it. On the other, I really, really want affordable rollable/foldable screens.

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
    1. Re:I'm torn by MobyDisk · · Score: 4, Informative

      none of which bears any similarity to property.

      There's plenty of similarity. Just like physical property, patents, trademarks, and copyrights can be bought and sold. Each grants the owner with unique rights. Sounds a lot like property to me. In the United States, property-like rights for patents and copyrights originate in the US constitution, which says "[The Congress shall have power] to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The courts have consistently ruled for over 100 years that this includes the ability to buy and sell them.

    2. Re:I'm torn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      china steals tech, they have done this since the dawn of their 'industrial revolution'. you shouldn't be suffering from this internal debate. they, including their government (because they invest in the companies, or outright own at least a piece of them, and condone this behaviour), need to be strung-up. it's the one thing america's dear president is right about. something needs to be done.. something significant to at least try to penalize china for their ongoing disregard for non-chinese intellectual property, patents and copyrights. he's going about it wrong, but, fuck.. something has to happen here.

    3. Re:I'm torn by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      There's patents, trademarks, and copyright - three completely unrelated classes of artificially protected work

      You left out trade secrets. They are all related in that they vest certain limitations on what other people can do, and are producible solely as the product of the mind (until you get to registration/enforcement, which can be expensive.).

      none of which bears any similarity to property.

      I dunno. It seems as real as a share of stock or a bank account. They can be bought, sold, rented. They have no physical manifestation. They're assets confiscatable under bankruptcy and usable as collateral.

      Heck, I'd like to hear how it's any different from owning a vacant building in a city you never visit. I mean, seriously, please try to explain the difference.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    4. Re:I'm torn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol. Your soul comes pretty cheap doesn't it.

    5. Re:I'm torn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the United States, property-like rights for patents and copyrights originate in the US constitution, which says "[The Congress shall have power] to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The courts have consistently ruled for over 100 years that this includes the ability to buy and sell them.

      While I understand why the courts may have desired to rule this way, as being able to transfer patents to industry would be useful, the language of the Constitution talks of "securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right ...". It makes no mention of "securing ... the exclusive right" to third parties as deemed appropriate by said authors and inventors. One could argue that contracts would have that net effect, but contracts and property are very different. For example, there's no basis to transfer exclusive rights if someone dies (as it's a government constructed thing) vs property (which is based more on common law, clarified by statute, and has no inherent property of dissolution to nothing after a "limited lime").

      But like I said, practically you don't want IP to be bound to a person's life where murder is an option nor discourage those of very old age or poor health to work in the field. Also, practically you do want industry to have a sort of de facto ownership of IP to guarantee they'll devote the resources to develop something from it instead of having to compete against others and thereby lose some of the monopolistic value of the IP. Of course there's also the mess that is work for hire, where hundreds or thousands of authors are conceivably involved, yet you don't want it left to every author staking a claim in their 0.1% ownership to derail things. My point is, it's clear that the clause as written was very much intended for a different world, and it may have been better in the long term to amend the phrasing than to leave it to the courts to reinterpret it.

    6. Re: I'm torn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      China also take intellectual property from the oil and gas industry. It's espionage in all industries!

    7. Re:I'm torn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IP is a dated idea that doesn't work in nature. You can claim ownership of some idea as much as you want and the rest of the universe will go right on ignoring you and using the idea.

      The Chinese realized this after seeing the economic damage that IP brought to the West. Instead of IP being the savior that pushed R&D to new heights, it became a greed-filled race to the bottom to see who could claim the most ideas first, establish a stranglehold over entire industries, use that stranglehold to leech money out of said industries for years if not decades to come, and contribute nothing back in return. Instead of increased innovation in "science and the useful arts" we have people barging into courtrooms across the West demanding handicaps placed, tribute be paid out, and the clock of human progress stopped or turned back to facilitate getting back the maximum ROI on a company's IP portfolio. The Chinese have seen all of this including the stagnant wages, massive layoffs, general unrest, and exploding deficits that go with it from the sidelines. The Chinese realized a long time ago that following in the West's footsteps would only keep them in their third-world status, and chose instead to take the path that would uplift them. Guess what? The path the Chinese chose, worked.

      Now the Chinese stand very close to being a world superpower. Meanwhile the West can barely hold it's own act together, with general unrest, growing nationalist / isolationist tendencies, and unfettered greed eating away at what's left of them. Say what you will about this post or the Chinese, they still won this round, and if you want to change that fact, you'll move away from the IP nonsense before it renders what's left of your society inferior to the Chinese.

    8. Re:I'm torn by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "On the one hand, we need to protect IP so that people keep producing it. On the other, I really, really want affordable rollable/foldable screens."

      Sure, but not this one, I don't know why nobody ever mentions it:
      It folds the wrong way!

    9. Re:I'm torn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If someone had actually stolen the copyright, they'd be the copyright holder. If someone had actually stolen what was copyrighted, Samsung would no longer have it.

    10. Re:I'm torn by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      everyone steals tech, they have done this since the dawn of their 'industrial revolution'.

      FTFY. Every country tries to steal tech, both commercial and military.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    11. Re:I'm torn by Immerman · · Score: 2

      Property is singular - what you have, I do not. If I take a piece of property from you, you no longer have it. That is the single defining quality of ownership rights over property.

      Intellectual assets do not share that quality. They can be duplicated infinitely at negligible cost, and the original owner loses nothing. The actual legal ownership of a grant of patent or copyright may behave in a similar manner - but that's just a document. The actual copyright itself is an artificial legal restriction imposed on everyone else.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    12. Re:I'm torn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So bitch ... you wannnawannnawannna ... know how much your wanna is worth to anyone else ? Break an arm, break a leg then you must go begbegbeg ...

  6. And the "Tech" is so bad that there is no product? by ffkom · · Score: 1

    So given that no product using that technology has hit the market, it will be difficult to argue that damage has been done.

  7. "IP" & "stolen" VS hard physical reality. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This kind of nonsense is what you get, when you take too much of the "intellectual property" LSD, but reality catches up to you... hard.

    Yeah, applying the term "ownership" to ideas, makes no sense. You can keep your ideas to yourself, and thereby a secret. Then you can control their distribution. But good luck showing us they exist at all*.
    However, as soon as you tell your secret to people, it's only gonna be as much a secret, as those people are trustworthy. Expecting to just spread it out to thousands of people (employees), or even millions if one can buy it, without somebody leaking it, is ludicrously unrealistic. It only takes a single person. Behind your back. And it is also possible, and even likely at first, that nobody will tell you it ever happened. ... With only one or two trusted people it's easy, like above. (And again, like above, of course, if the secret leaks to the whole world, it will be just as unrealistic, to expect, that you won’t find out.) ... Oh, and it is possible, to spread it at a location, that is outside of your light cone, and not tell you. Ergo, it is literally physically impossible, to guarantee staying in control. And saying you "own" something, without you (or usually: a state with police and an army that enforces guarantees) having control over it, is as meaningless as it is silly.

    Welcome to reality, Samsung!
    You have to actually earn your money. With work.
    Not pay some people once, for their hard work, and then expect to yourself be paid forever, while you twiddle your thumbs.
    You too, only get paid once. Because guess what: We had to work hard for our money too. And we can't just put that money on the copier, and go buy stuff with it forever. There is no equivalent for that specific one of all the free money privileges that are called "intellectual property".

    Boo hoo.

    Next time, get a legitimate business model. We'll gladly work for the money we'll give you (and only you... not copies to everyone), if you worked just as long and just as hard for us (and only us... not copies to everyone).

    - - -
    (* Zero knowledge proofs actually never prove more than precisely that which they reveal/leak. Yes, you can use them, to reveal the entire thing to somebody in a huge amount of bits too small to see the entire thing. But then you have only revealed those bits. Not the combination of them. Hence you can still not show that you have the entire thing that is that specific combination. Or you can show somebody, that you have a tool/method, by taking some arbitrary input, and showing output that must have been done with that tool. But that does not show that you have an universal tool for *any* arbitrary input. You may still only have a tool that *only* works for the some specific input cases. Yes, repeated enough, you gain statistical reliability. But you inevitably also leak a just as reliable tool in the process. Besides: There is a difference between highly reliable observation, and a mathematical actual *proof*.)

    1. Re:"IP" & "stolen" VS hard physical reality. by shaksys · · Score: 1

      how dare Samsung spend billions to develop the tech and now will be at a substantial loss because the Chinese firms can use it without spending a dime on R&D. Samsung will know better than to develop new technology in the future.

    2. Re:"IP" & "stolen" VS hard physical reality. by MikeMo · · Score: 1

      You’re being sarcastic, but his is how Apple felt when Samsung produced an iPhone clone.

    3. Re:"IP" & "stolen" VS hard physical reality. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Rounded corners requires far less intellectual insight than the technology required to make foldable/rollable displays.

    4. Re:"IP" & "stolen" VS hard physical reality. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Android was a BlackBerry rip-off until Apple came along with the iPhone.
      Your 'rounded corners' defence is empty.

    5. Re:"IP" & "stolen" VS hard physical reality. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iPhone is a LG Prada rip-off

  8. Chinese copy machine by Chewbacon · · Score: 1

    You put a device in one end and out pops a cheaper copy on the other side! No espionage involved.

    --
    Chewbacon
    The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
  9. Re:And the "Tech" is so bad that there is no produ by ffkom · · Score: 1

    Oh, only now I get it: By "foldable", the article does not mean really foldable displays, but "some display that is slightly rounded at two of its outer edges.

  10. trump needs up the tariffs on this tech from china by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    trump needs up the tariffs on this tech from china

  11. Blueprints? ( by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    I think not. As a thought experiment, I'll design a 3D display that takes 2 old school CRT displays, 30" each, at if memory serves 5 lb per inch for that tech. I'll mount them each to a sheet of plywood, and join the plywood with hinges.

    I can easily make a blueprint of that.

    Will it work? Yeah, pretty sure I can make that work.

    Will it scale to a 2 lb set of glasses that sit on your nose? Ummm

  12. Re:And the "Tech" is so bad that there is no produ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So given that no product using that technology has hit the market, it will be difficult to argue that damage has been done.

    Surely you're aware that truly new technology has to be designed and tested, then redesigned and tested before it reaches the public. We're not talking about a new smartphone with an extra camera on it here, we're talking about an entirely new display technology that wasn't yet released.

  13. You don't want your tech stolen... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you don't want your stuff stolen, then quit going through Chinese companies or those who do..... Just that simple.

    They are cheaper labor and manufactoring for that specific reason and these companies fall for it every time just about. It would be like if I kept allowing a kleptomaniac to watch my house for me while I am gone and then get mad when every time I do my stuff comes up stolen before I get back.

    It is like watching that scene from "That 70's Show" where Heide keeps messing with Kelso who keeps falling for the exact same prank over and over again and Kelso says "Stop doing that!" and Heide responds "Get smarter!".

    Seriously, these companies need to get smarter and either stop thinking short term and letting their shit get stolen and stop doing this crap, or just accept that their shit will get stolen and they have no one to blame but themselves and continue as they are.

  14. How come the Korean never proseutes Samsung? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Samsung stole processor secrets from TSMC and the Koreans just keep mum.

    https://www.technobuffalo.com/...

    How come the Koreans never prosecute Samsung for that theft??

  15. Re:And the "Tech" is so bad that there is no produ by shaksys · · Score: 1

    Samsung spend billions developing it and not some china firm gets it for 14 million and gets to compete with Samsung. If this is allowed to happen, companies will no longer want to spend on R and D

  16. Lesson: Invest in keeping trade secrets secret by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Growing pain for Samsung. China is doing exactly what every other developing nation did prior to gaining supremecy.

  17. irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    better theirs than 'murikuh's. Make Communism Great Again.

  18. yeah by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

    so kill them. any anyone who tries to export. across the org. problem solved.

  19. Don't Need Folding Screens by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    Marketing people need folding screens to sell cellphones, apparently. I am a "power user" who just want's a good flat screen--without rounding corners that have a blue line, and that sticks up, so we cannot put a proper screen protector on them.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  20. Re:And the "Tech" is so bad that there is no produ by BytePusher · · Score: 0

    Or they will, but instead of offloading the cost of keeping their secrets safe on governments, they’ll learn proper security. This would have the added benefit of protecting end uses of their products.

  21. is there a bounty on the heads of the 2 chinese ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    how much is the pay?

  22. The two are not in conflict by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No law of economics says that the most wealthy corporations in the history of the world (like Apple and Samsung) would be bankrupt or that their products would be unaffordable if nobody traded with the evil totalitarian regime of China. If all non-China countries made the penalties extremely severe for transferring tech to China, all this big companies would rapidly figure out that robots in the rest of the world were as capable and affordable as robots in China and that human slave labor in China is not worth it.

    Production in China (and the inevitable high-tech links with China and associated intentional tech transfers to China and opportunities for illicit tech transfer to China have only served to stuff the wallets of corporate execs fatter - they have not actually reduced prices in proportion. This stuff has, however, probably enabled the Chinese to prep for a future hyper-violet war in which they will almost certainly seek to spread their evil across the globe as all evil dictator-for-life regimes eventually attempt if they think they are big enough to do it.

  23. Samsung *STOLE* IP from TSMC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop crying wolf, Samsung.

    You stole IP from TSMC -- https://www.technobuffalo.com/...

    Samsung is a goddamn thief !!!

  24. Re:Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bullshit Lying Troll !

  25. Re:And the "Tech" is so bad that there is no produ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Chinese company can only sell it in china Samsung could stop them from selling outside of china

  26. chicom globalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You wanted feckin-A chicom globalism, instead of A-bombing the bastards into the STONE AGE like McArthur wanted .... well look around Bosco! You got chicom globalism. Choke on it Trotsky-slut bitches.

  27. Where are the patents?? by AC-x · · Score: 1

    Um, shouldn't Samsung have patented this? Which would make all the plans public by default?

    1. Re:Where are the patents?? by Shazatoga · · Score: 1

      A patent give the minimal information needed to describe the design. Real world implementation and manufacturing involve much more than is in the patent.

    2. Re: Where are the patents?? by AC-x · · Score: 1

      A patent is supposed to be detailed enough that someone else can reproduce the invention based on the patent. That implementation is then legally protected so no one else can sell a device using that implementation.

  28. chinese proverb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day
    Teach him how to catch a fish and you will feed him for the rest of his life

    Those companies will not be able to innovate...

  29. You mean *wasted* billions on a delusion! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's like a thief saying "How dare I spend thousands on thieving equipment to steal millions from people, and now will be at a substantial loss due to some other thief stealing my equipment!"
    Boo-fuckin-hoo!

    Yeah, how dare Samsung spend billions to *steal trillions* from people without working for it!

    If you base your "business" on a a "business model" based on willful ignorance and delusion, with the direct intention of later stealing money from people without working for it, ... and reality, in the form of another asshole who doesn't give a shit about your "IP" religion, comes back to bite you, so you can't steal any money, not even to recoup the investments, you don't get to blame others.

    Maybe you learn, to use a legitimate business model, based on reality, next time.
    Or maybe you go WAAAHH like a SJW bully acting like a victim, and want to force the world to adhere to your reality distortion. Like a true (extroverted) religion.

    In the end, it is only a question of time, before you will be forced to accept, that your oppression cannot work. Due to being in direct conflict with physical reality.
    Fuckin thief!

  30. Re:trump needs up the tariffs on this tech from ch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To hell with tariff - make it a full blown embargo.

  31. Not Stolen, But Given Away by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

    The technology wasn't stolen. The supplier leaked the blueprints. It's not as if someone hacked into their systems and took it or it was a phishing scheme. No, Samsung set up a company and a bunch of people from there sold it to some Chinese companies. Maybe Samsung should implement better hiring practices or pay better.

  32. Re:And the "Tech" is so bad that there is no produ by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

    The R&D costs were $130M and not in the billions (that was billions of won).

  33. Re:And the "Tech" is so bad that there is no produ by geek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Or they will, but instead of offloading the cost of keeping their secrets safe on governments, they’ll learn proper security. This would have the added benefit of protecting end uses of their products.

    There is no proper security here. China is offering people at one company 7 times their current salary guaranteed for 3 years if they leave and come work for them with just the IP they have in their heads. You literally can not defend against that as a private company. China has promised to spend hundreds of billions before 2025 to steal the IP of western nations and stand up fabs in country to produce and sell them without the RnD costs.

    The only way to deal with this is massive tariffs and trade embargoes. China is the worlds largest copying machine and deserves no respect economically on the world stage.

  34. Bad for business. good for Humanity by edris90 · · Score: 1

    This is a good thing. Companies keep things secret then overtime the secrets are lost to history. It's nice when intellectual property gets stolen and copied so it's our might actually be around later when the original company no longer exists. I mean unless we're planning on the human race not existing in 50 Generations

  35. China are fairly relaxed about IP by TJHook3r · · Score: 1

    Western companies particularly cannot compete once their IP is being produced in sweatshop conditions - which is ironic because a lot of them set up different sweatshops in the same country in the first place.

  36. Plenty of other solutions around. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm more interested in what's coming from smaller starting and growing firms like www.wisecorp.co.uk and www.varjo.com presently.