>From an article last week which discusses a suit filed by a connector
maker against another
(http://www.ebnews.com/digest/story/OEG19990527S0009):
"Earlier this week, Hon Hai filed documents in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles alleging that three of Kycon's products ...infringe on four of Hon Hai's patents... Foxconn's senior legal counsel...said severe price erosion on the parts in question are what prompted the suit. Wang noted that since Kycon didn't have to lay out R&D and patent costs, it could afford to enter the market with cheaper products, Wang said."
[The grammatical errors and typos aren't mine.] Isn't this what capitalism is all about??? Figuring out a way to enter the market with a cheaper, more succesful product?? Isn't that the American way??
And then from an article today about Taiwan chipmakers suing foreign companies, which can be found at http://www.ebnonline.com/story/OEG19990601S0008:
"A Taiwan government agency, the Trade Investigation Committee, has found that five chip makers from the United States, Japan, and Korea are guilty of dumping DRAMs in Taiwan, thereby harming local memory makers...The TSIA, a Hisnchu-based trade organization that represents Taiwan's IC industry, and the MOF claimed that the five DRAM manufacturers were dumping DRAM in the local market from 1997 to early 1999."
So this has been going on for quite a while, during which the US was lobbying China and other countries to try and get the markets MORE open. For what? So that the tariffs and penalties would go down, and then profits would skyrocket. Neat!
And from http://www.ebnews.com/story/OEG19990528S0017, an article about the US DOC suing Taiwan, comes this strong statement from a US chipmaker in reponse to allegations of dumping by his company:
"Micron's Appleton called the suit an act of retaliation. “Even if dumping penalties were levied against Micron exports from the U.S.,” Appleton said, “we would simply ship to Taiwan from our other plants in Europe, Japan, and Singapore.”"
These guys make me sick.
Julie Shearer [who will now avoid Micron parts until--and it'll probably happen--it is proven that all the companies are just as bad!]