“A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple’s iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday,” AFP reports. “The theft from a plant run by Foxconn, a contract electronics manufacturer, in Guangdong province late last year resulted in fake iPad2s being sold in China before Apple’s official launch of the product, the Guangzhou Daily said.”
“A court in Shenzhen city last week sentenced Xiao Chengsong, the legal agent of Maita Electronics, to 18 months in prison and fined him 150,000 yuan ($23,000) for buying the design from two Foxconn workers,” AFP reports. “Xiao allegedly paid 200,000 yuan for the iPad 2 design. Foxconn employee Lin Kecheng, was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, while another worker identified as Hou Pengna was given a two-year sentence suspended for one year and fined 30,000 yuan.”
AFP reports, “All three were convicted of the crime of violating commercial secrets.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Attribution: Mike Elgan. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Mild convicton by wester lasas!
I meant “laws”
Mild by western standards? Ever heard of the Haditha incident? No one was even convicted let alone sentenced.
that’s one risk of manufacturing overseas
And another risk of Manufacturing going to Brazil
Was one of the convicted Samsung’s CEO?
No, but someone did spot Ballmer running away as the cops pulled up, wearing a sweaty kungfu suit with the Windows logo on the back.
I didn’t realise that Ballmer was the voice talent in Kung Fu Panda 2. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
+1
It’s high time to bring back manufacturing in the USA
As if Americans could afford a 50% hike in the cost of manufactured goods.
It would be much more than a 50% increase. Probably closer to 200%.
Why so? Land for the plant is cheaper, as is the power. Distance to market is shorter, saving fuel. And whether built in China or Austin, most of the work is being done by the same machines. In any event, what’s going on in those Foxconn plants is final assembly of parts made in China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and yes even the US.
Look at automobiles. Did the price of the Honda, Mazda or Hyundai go up 200% when those companies set up shop in the US? Chinese companies are in fact starting to build manufacturing facilities here. They’re not stupid.
It’s all about profit and greed. Most Americans turn their heads. They don’t really want to know how it’s made just how much is it? Profit doesn’t have to be driven by greed. But it is.
“All three were convicted of the crime of violating commercial secrets.”
Who knew that was illegal in China?
No Sh*t! I thought ‘stealing trade secrets’ was a Chinese birthright!?!
We are so quick to point fingers at everyone else’s faults but what about us? America was built on thievery and swindling people. Look no further than the Rockefellers and Rothchilds that “built” America.
So, they have more protections than in the US? So, what has been done about Gizmodo and the iPhone 4 case?
If Xiao paid 200,000 yuan for the iPad 2 design and the Foxconn employees were fined a total of 130,000 yuan, then they netted 70,000 yuan (~$10,700) for about a year in jail. That might be a viable career plan in China.
If the government would implement the fairtax, US company’s could afford to manufacture their products here in America as the employee overhead would be greatly reduced.
There is an enormous amount of hand assembly of Apple’s mobile devices at Foxconn, which employs about 1 M workers. Pay is about $120 per month. Where are you going to find an American worker for that salary? Proximity to market, which is now worldwide and fuel savings don’t even enter the equation. There is no comparison to auto manufacture. Japanese and American auto assembly worker salaries aren’t so different.
By this logic, most Americans shouldn’t expect to find a job in manufacturing until they’re willing to live on typical Chinese salaries. That’s a pleasant thought. I’m sure the military could afford more stealth fighters if they just contracted them out to China. Of course they’d have us by the balls in any strategic conflict… maybe they already do. All in the name of higher profits. But, for who? Shareholders? Corporate executives. Yet the average American can expect to just drop down the standard of living scale for a long time to come, be unable to afford basic medical care, and enjoy a falling life expectancy. That’s one hell of a future to look forward to. Maybe we can all become brokers or bankers for rich foreigners… or stuff tacos for a living.
Artificially low prices from Chinese made goods have temporarily made us feel richer because they are cheaper. But, the next phase of this is already happening… lost jobs that pay well, and the real price of all this “cheap goods” crap – the inability to buy it because we don’t have any money. We become like the old China. They become like the old US. We become the service workers and serve our wealthy owners – the Chinese. Hell, they don’t need a war to defeat us, we simply handed them the keys. And held up our own workers as the scapegoats and bad guys in this whole fiasco. America will be looked back at historically as the one example of a true superpower that sold itself down the river in the name of profit.
Of course we could afford the 200% increase. We’d just buy less. More companies would focus on quality over quantity, prices would go up, and then wages would too.
Which in turn leads to higher prices, which in turn……
only three?
intellectual theft should be punishable by castration.
caught stealing the big head, lose the little head.