September 26, 2007 – A US District Court in Northern California has ruled that TSMC did in fact misuse trade secrets concerning embedded DRAM allegedly shared with it by UniRAM Technology, and ordered the Taiwan foundry giant to pay $30.5 million.

Back in spring 2004 UniRAM filed a complaint against Monolithic System Technology Inc. (MoSys) alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and patent infringement, regarding embedded DRAM technology, information UniRAM claimed it had shared with TSMC in the mid-1990s. UniRAM later amended its complaint to include TSMC as a defendant, and dropped infringement claims for one of the patents.

In a statement, TSMC called the verdict “in error,” noting that it has the option to appeal and file post-trial motions, and will “pursue all defenses vigorously.”