The Chip Copyright Litigation Between Haier and Microchip Has Gotten The Final Judgment

The chip copyright litigation between Shanghai Haier Integrated Circuit and US Microchip Technology, which has lasted for nearly six years, has gotten the final judgment recently.

The Shanghai Higher People's Court upheld the judgment of the Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai to reject all demands from Microchip as the infringement accusation of Haier did not hold.

In 2007, the US company brought a lawsuit against the Shanghai company to accuse that the latter copied its proprietary PIC16CXXX microcontroller micro-code and data sheet to describe how to use and operate the microcontroller without authorization. The micro-code and data sheet of Microchip are subject to copyright protection in both China and the US.

The Shanghai company, a joint venture between Haier Group and overseas venture capital established in 2000, specializes in the research and development and sale of microcontrollers.