Stealing | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Fri, 17 Jul 2015 11:53:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Stealing | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Caselabs publishes retraction over Thermaltake case theft claims https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/jon-martindale/caselabs-publishes-retraction-over-thermtaltake-case-theft-claims/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/jon-martindale/caselabs-publishes-retraction-over-thermtaltake-case-theft-claims/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2015 11:04:57 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=259489 One of the most scandalous claims in recent years hit the tech industry in early June this year, when CaseLabs, maker of some quite innovative chassis designs accused industry giant Thermaltake of ripping off its cases, as well as the designs of other manufacturers like Fractal and NZXT. While this was seemingly backed up by …

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One of the most scandalous claims in recent years hit the tech industry in early June this year, when CaseLabs, maker of some quite innovative chassis designs accused industry giant Thermaltake of ripping off its cases, as well as the designs of other manufacturers like Fractal and NZXT. While this was seemingly backed up by plenty of evidence, Caselabs has now issued a retraction letter for the claims it made.

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Image credit: LegitReviews

This letter was publicised by Thermaltake and detailed as an ‘apology' for the accusations previously made by CaseLabs. It reads:

“CaseLabs acknowledges that it does not own any patents on any of its case products. CaseLabs' postings, which suggested that litigating to enforce patents would be prohibitively expensive, were misleading, because they implied that CaseLabs actually owned patents, which it does not. CaseLabs regrets this error. CaseLabs apologizes for accusing Mr. Robb and Thermaltake of “stealing” anything.”

It goes on to point out that all cases will have some similarities due to the nature of their function. However the big tone of the letter is less apology, and more pointing out that it cannot legally make those claims without patents to back it up.

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Image credit: LegitReviews

Previous comments made by CaseLabs also accused Thermaltake of deliberately undercutting its designs, as well as copying them. This too it retracted in the letter:

“CaseLabs acknowledges that price competition is fundamental to a healthy marketplace, and CaseLabs recognizes that it has no right to prevent Thermaltake from offering a competing product for a lower price in the marketplace. CaseLabs retracts any suggestion that competitors are not entirely free to engage in price competition for such unpatentable products as CaseLabs' computer cases.”

In all fairness, CaseLabs cannot prevent other companies from leveraging their size, manufacturing chops or contacts in countries with cheaper labour in order to produce products cheaply and therefore offer them at a better price. The tone is still very much linked with legal obligation though, rather than an outright apology.

Thermaltake's response to the letter has been positive, and it speaks of its interest in returning to healthy competition with CaseLabs and others in the near future. You can read it in its entirety here.

CaseLabs has also sent a letter to LegitReviews, which asked it to pull its coverage of the original Facebook post that started this all off. At the time of writing, it's still up and can be read here.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Considering the legal language being thrown around here, we'll be a little careful with any of our opinions on this one. What do you guys think of the similarities though? How do you feel about the way Thermaltake has handled it?

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T-Mobile files lawsuit against Huawei over stolen robot tech https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/t-mobile-files-lawsuit-against-huawei-over-stolen-robot-tech/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/t-mobile-files-lawsuit-against-huawei-over-stolen-robot-tech/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2014 14:25:17 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=210690 T-Mobile has filed a lawsuit against Chinese firm, Huawei, after its staff attempted to sneak in to T-Mobile offices and steal software and technology behind the carrier's phone testing robot, which is nicknamed ‘Tappy'. Huawei employees allegedly stole the software and specifications for the robot, they also took secret photos of the machine at work- …

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T-Mobile has filed a lawsuit against Chinese firm, Huawei, after its staff attempted to sneak in to T-Mobile offices and steal software and technology behind the carrier's phone testing robot, which is nicknamed ‘Tappy'.

Huawei employees allegedly stole the software and specifications for the robot, they also took secret photos of the machine at work- corporate espionage at its finest. These employees were then supposed to bring all of this information back to Huawei in order to help the firm build its own phone testing robot. T-Mobile is officially suing the Chinese firm for theft of its trade secrets, violating NDA and supposedly profiting from this stolen info.

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Image source: UberGizmo

The Huawei employees were previously authorized to use Tappy the robot, however, some reports have suggested that these employees were later banned before this incident took place.

T-Mobile’s robot, its component parts, its functionality, and its software were protected by these nondisclosure and confidentiality contracts. Huawei employees were only authorized to use the robot to test their T-Mobile handsets in T-Mobile’s labs, and were prohibited from disclosing or using information regarding the robot for any other purpose.”

In the filing, T-Mobile states that employees were caught on camera stealing parts of its robot:

“On information and belief, Huawei is already using T-Mobile’s stolen robot technology to test non-T-Mobile handsets and improve return rates for handsets developed and sold to other carriers.”

The filing also states that T-Mobile beleives that Huawei went on to use this stolen technology to make hundreds of millions of dollars. It is currently unknown how much money the US carrier is seeking to gain from this lawsuit but its fair to assume that it will want a sizable payout.

While this isn't necessarily linked to the above story I think it's important to point out that Huawei is the very company that David Cameron wanted to put in charge of censoring the Internet here in the UK. The company has previously been accused of spying for the Chinese government and is set to open a £125 million research facility in the UK.  The actions taken in this case certainly cast doubt on Huawei as a company and will likely cause a rift of distrust between the firm, its customers and future/present business partners.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's not often that we get to report on corporate espionage, these employees worked in the building for some time, surely they knew that there were security cameras watching them steal trade secrets? Hopefully more details surrounding this case will be released soon as it is certainly an interesting one.

Source: The Register

You can follow the author of this article on Twitter. 

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