Uniram Technology, Inc. v. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

ORDER

This is a trade secret misappropriation dispute between plaintiff UniRAM Technology, Inc (“UniRAM”) and defendants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company LTD and TSMC North America (collectively “TSMC”). In its original complaint, UniRAM also sued Monolithic Systems Technology, Inc (“MoSys”), but that defendant has since settled. TSMC now seeks summary judgment that (1) Uni-RAM’s claims are barred by the statute of limitations and (2) TSMC did not misappropriate UniRAM’s trade secrets. For the reasons that follow, TSMC’s motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

I

The trade secrets at issue concern a new method of manufacturing dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”) invented by Dr. Jeng-Jye Shau. DRAM is a type of memory that stores data within a circuit. The DRAM memory cells must be embedded into the chip during the manufacturing process. One method of doing this is the EmbDRAM process, while another method is called a logic process. Shau claims that embedding the DRAM by using the logic process was one of his ideas. In 1996, Shau approached TSMC, a foundry of computer chips and circuits, to manufacture his new circuits. Shau decl. at ¶ 5. As part of the process,…