Randall E. Kay

The trade wars and longstanding U.S. complaints about international intellectual property heists form the background as Kay serves as lead counsel for Idaho-based computer memory device maker Micron Technology Inc. in its battle against an alleged conspiracy involving rivals in China and Taiwan.

"The stars aligned here in terms of U.S.-China relations and the theft of IP," said the Jones Day partner of the case's broader context. His work on the case for Micron involves issues of first impression regarding the 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act. Also in the mix are civil RICO allegations and California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

His complaint contends that defendants United Microelectronics Corp. of China and Fujian Jinhus Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. of Taiwan "orchestrated and executed one of the boldest schemes of commercial espionage in recent times."

The defendants recruited key personnel at Micron's Taiwanese affiliate to misappropriate trade secrets they used to mass produce advanced DRAM products, then conspired to cover up their plans, Kay's complaint asserts. It adds: "UMC is prepared to make hundreds of millions of dollars for its purported 'development work,' and Junhua plans to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in costs and the many months of R&D effort that honest competition would require." Micron Technology Inc. v. United Microelectronics Corp., 4:17-cv-06932 (N.D. Cal., filed Dec. 5, 2017).

The defendants argued to Senior U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney of San Francisco that because the events occurred in Asia, U.S. courts could not act. But Chesney agreed with Kay's claim that under the Defend Trade Secrets Act the defendants had committed acts on U.S. soil in furtherance of their conspiracy. "They actually visited Silicon Valley and held a recruiting fair," Kay said. And the defendants also satisfied another part of the law--acts of misappropriation--by applying for U.S. patents on their stolen IP, Chesney ruled.

In July 2019 Chesney stayed Kay's civil case pending resolution of the U.S. Department of Justice's November 2018 criminal indictment and civil complaint against the defendants. "I continue to represent Micron as a victim in those matters," Kay said. He's also advising Micron's lawyers in Taiwan in a criminal matter there against the alleged IP thieves.

"These international aspects are typical of the cases I handle now," Kay said. "Really fun, really interesting."

Kay represented Qualcomm in the massive trade secret and contract dispute with Apple Inc. that settled for more than $4.5 billion in April 2019.

He won a series of trial court motions and appellate writs in which Apple challenged the sufficiency of Qualcomm's trade secret claim. Apple Inc. v. Super. Ct., D073839 (4th DCA, opinion filed May 2, 2018).

"I have a very happy client," Kay said.

-- John Roemer