Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong was cleared of all charges in a high-profile court case on Monday, marking a significant moment for both the tech giant and the South Korean legal system.

Legal Victory for Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong

The case centered around accusations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud linked to the 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates, Cheil Industries Inc. and Samsung C&T Corp. This merger was critical as it was alleged to have been orchestrated to strengthen Lee Jae-yong’s control over Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of the Samsung conglomerate.

The Seoul court’s verdict not only absolves Lee of any wrongdoing but also ends a lengthy legal saga that has captured public and international attention. Prosecutors had previously sought a five-year jail term for Lee, arguing that the merger was manipulated to inflate the stock price of Cheil Industries while undervaluing Samsung C&T, adversely affecting minority shareholders and consolidating Lee’s grip on the electronics giant.

However, the court found insufficient evidence to support these claims. It ruled that the merger could not be deemed unfair as it was decided upon after thorough review and consideration by the boards of the involved companies, with a reasonable purpose beyond merely facilitating Lee’s succession. This decision not only frees Lee from potential incarceration but also removes a cloud of legal uncertainty that has hovered over Samsung Electronics for years.

The ruling comes at a crucial time for Samsung, which has faced challenges including a sales slump and intensified competition in the global tech market. The company, once the world’s top smartphone maker, recently lost its leading position to Apple and has reported consecutive quarters of profit decline amid sluggish demand for consumer electronics and semiconductor chips.

Lee Jae-yong’s acquittal allows him to focus more intently on steering Samsung through these turbulent times. Under his leadership, the company aims to regain its competitive edge and innovation prowess, crucial for navigating the rapidly evolving technological landscape and geopolitical risks.

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The competition in the electric vehicle market is heating up. In the market led by Tesla and BYD, manufacturers are competing fiercely to offer better technologies at more affordable prices. However, it appears that this competition is not going so smoothly. Tesla China has sued a Chinese company, Bingling Intelligent Technology, for allegedly infringing its technology secrets. Moreover, it turned out that the company that stole Tesla‘s secrets was owned by Xiaomi. Here are the details…

Tesla sues Chinese firm over tech secret infringement

Tesla China has sued Bingling Intelligent Technology for allegedly infringing its technology secrets. The lawsuit was filed in the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court and is scheduled to go to trial on October 10. While corporate espionage is not new, so there is no big news, right? Wrong… Bingling Intelligent Technology is a chip designer and auto parts manufacturer based in Changzhou and it is majority-owned by Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker.

Tesla has accused Bingling Intelligent Technology of stealing its trade secrets related to the development and production of automotive sensors and components. The company is seeking damages and an injunction to prevent Bingling Intelligent Technology from using its technology. It is worth noting that Xiaomi has been developing its own electric vehicle for some time, which could provide a motive for the alleged theft.

However, this is not enough evidence to accuse anyone. Therefore, it is best to view Xiaomi as innocent until the court case is over. Tesla has been a vocal critic of intellectual property theft in China. In 2019, the company sued Chinese electric vehicle startup Xpeng Motors for alleged theft of trade secrets. The case was settled in 2020, with Xpeng agreeing to pay Tesla an undisclosed sum. It remains to be seen if the case against Bingling Intelligent Technology will be settled in a similar way.

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(source/source)

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In a new development over the legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, an appeals court has ruled in favor of Apple in regard to the App Store rules.

With the courts siding with the Cupertino-based technology giant, it is likely that there won’t be any major changes in the commission that the company charges to app developers.

Commenting about this new development, Apple spokesman said, “Today’s decision reaffirms Apple’s resounding victory in this case, with nine of 10 claims having been decided in Apple’s favor. For the second time in two years, a federal court has ruled that Apple abides by antitrust laws at the state and federal levels.”

Apple had won the initial court battle a couple of years back and now the Ninth Circuit Court affirmed that decision where it was said that the company did not violate antitrust law by banning competing app marketplaces on iPhones.

Epic Games sued Apple after the game developer had introduced its own payment system into Fortnite to avoid paying a 30% commission to Apple for each transaction. By doing so, the company broke Apple’s rules, and ultimately the developer was banned from the App Store. After that, Epic Games sued Apple and received support from a few other developers who also faced issues with Apple’s rules.

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ByteDance, the parent company of the popular short video social media platform TikTok, has told the Indian court that the freeze on its bank account in the country by the government amounts to harassment.

As per the court filing, the Chinese giant says that the freeze on its bank accounts in a probe of possible tax evasion amounts to harassment and was done illegally. India’s tax intelligence unit ordered HSBC and Citibank in Mumbai to freeze bank accounts of ByteDance India as it probed some of the unit’s financial dealings.

The company has challenged the freeze on the four accounts in a Mumbai court. ByteDance had reduced its Indian workforce after the government maintained a ban on TikTok which was imposed last year amid a border clash between India and China.

Because of the account freeze, none of ByteDance India’s employees have been paid their March salaries, claims report from Reuters citing two people familiar with the matter. The company told the court it has a workforce of 1,335, including outsourced personnel.

The company told the High Court that authorities acted against the company without any material evidence and gave no prior notice, as required by Indian law. It added that blocking accounts “during the process of investigation amounts (to) applying undue coercion” and is “intended, improperly, to harass the petitioner.”

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Samsung heir Lee Jae Yong has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison over a bribery scandal. The news arrives after a high court in South Korea passed the judgment over the company’s head.

According to a BBC report, the bribery case is a retrial of a bribery case, which even involved the country’s previous President, Park Geun-hye, who also faced prison term for bribery and corruption charges. For those unaware, Lee has been the head of Samsung Electronics since 2014, although, the recent ruling will likely have impacts on his current role in the South Korean tech giant. Notably, the news of the prison term on Lee Jae Yong caused the company’s shares to plummet by more than 4 percent.

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Furthermore, the prison sentence will temporarily have Lee be separated from being involved in any decision making process involving him in Samsung. Kim Dae-jong, a business professor at Sejong University, told news agency AFP that “It’s really a huge blow and a big crisis for Samsung.” Back in 2014, Lee had assumed the leadership of the company after his father Lee Kun-hee was forced to step down over health related issues.

As per the court’s ruling, Lee “actively provided bribes and implicitly asked the president to use her power to help his smooth succession” as the head of Samsung. “It is very unfortunate that Samsung, the country’s top company and proud global innovator, is repeatedly involved in crimes whenever there is a change in political power.” The court found that Lee is responsible for 8.6 billion won (roughly 7.8 million US Dollars) worth of bribery, embezzlement, and concealment of criminal proceeds.

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HTC has sued Gionee and Meizu in China over alleged patent infringement. The patent being infringed is the concept of a mobile device with a metal chassis, with a specific antenna structure. The invention aims to solve the technical problem of poor radiation signals caused by the shielding of the metal casing, and to design an antenna structure that can be combined with a metal appearance.

If you’re aware of any of HTC’s metal devices, you’ll be familiar with this setup. HTC has been using it since the One M7. Now for the case, HTC claims that Gionee infringed on the patent with the Gionee M6, another full metal device that to be frank, does use the same setup of antennae like the HTC devices. Meizu’s device on the other hand is their M5 Note, another mid-range full metal device.

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The Beijing Court of Intellectual Property concluded the two cases did in fact infringe the patent right of the invention. The M6 ​​mobile phone infringed on the invention patent right of “mobile device” No. 201310032515.5, and sentenced the defendants to stop infringement and compensate for economic losses and reasonable expenses.

HTC requested that Meizu compensate 30 million for economic losses. Gionee on the other hand was asked to compensate for economic losses of 24 million yuan, as well as pay for a temporary protection period of 1.6 million yuan. Meizu and Gionee argued against non-infringement, and argued that the plaintiff claimed that the amount of compensation was too high.

During the pre-trial meeting, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court organized the parties to determine the matters of entrusted identification. The appraisal agency issued a “Judicial Appraisal Opinion”, which states that both devices infringe on multiple aspects:

1. The product involved in the case includes components on the metal layer;
2. The antenna structure of the product involved includes the following components: First feed Parts, upper parts of the metal layer, connecting parts, first slot holes, metal shell;
3. The first slot holes are not configured with metal or electronic parts.

Beijing Intellectual Property Court held that some of the data provided by HTC were extrapolated, and the profit margin and patent contribution also lacked sufficient evidence to support it. However, even with a lower profit margin and patent contribution, the calculated amount of compensation has clearly exceeded the statutory maximum limit of one million yuan stipulated in the Patent Law.

Therefore, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, on the basis of the statutory compensation ceiling, determined that Meizu needs to compensate 3 million yuan for economic losses, while Gionee Corporation compensated 2.6 million yuan for economic losses. This, paired with payments for lawyer fees, totals at 6.5 million yuan in terms of total compensation.

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