>>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!]