Innovation at Risk: Listen to Webcast on Intellectual Property


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Innovation at Risk: Listen to Webcast on Intellectual Property

In this industry, innovation is everything. The semiconductor industry depends on intellectual property (IP) to keep innovation alive. Yet IP offenses are on the rise. Patent infringement, counterfeiting, and trade secret theft have reached serious levels—throughout the supply chain.

Semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers face serious and mounting challenges in IP protection, with adverse economic consequences for the entire microelectronics industry. According to a new white paper published by SEMI, IP violations reduce the amount of revenue available for R&D, erode the R&D return on investment, and increase safety and reliability problems in the fab. Violations undermine the development of the next generation equipment and materials needed to remain on the Moore’s Law technology curve. All in all, this comes at a steep cost with total industry financial losses and damages estimated to be billions of dollars per year, according to an industry survey.

Webcast

To discuss these issues and challenges, SEMI partnered with Semiconductor International on a webcast that featured an overview of the SEMI findings and further discussion by a panel of industry executives (on right).

The webcast aired on June 17 and is available on-line here. For more IP-related resources from SEMI, including a downloadable version of the IP White Paper, please visit http://www.semi.org/ipwhitepaper.

Survey Results

The survey of SEMI members revealed that:

  • About 90 percent of respondents reported some form of IP violations, including infringement, counterfeiting, and theft of core technologies, spare parts and components, and trademarks.
  • While more than half of the companies surveyed have taken legal action against IP violations, 56 percent were not satisfied with the outcome. Legal processes are slow, expensive, and unpredictable—with companies concerned about cost and variability in litigation outcome.
  • More than 60 percent of the companies have experienced adverse economic impact caused by IP violations, mainly due to reduced sales and lost market share.
  • Companies identified Taiwan, mainland China, Korea, and North America as regions of the greatest concern.
  • More than 50 percent of the companies reported IP-related issues with their customers—a sensitive issue for suppliers.

July 9, 2008

“Innovation at Risk”
Webcast Participants

Moderator


Alexander Braun
Senior Editor, Semiconductor International

Speaker


Vicki Hadfield
Executive VP, Global Public Policy
President, SEMI North America

Executive Panel


Bob Akins
Chairman and CEO, Cymer, Inc.
Vice Chairman, SEMI International Board of Directors


Jerry Coder
President Emeritus, DuPont IC Fab Materials
Chairman, SEMI International Board of Directors


Hamid Zarringhalam
Executive VP, Technology, Sales and Marketing, Nikon Precision Inc.


Harvey Frye
President, Tokyo Electron America