AUSTIN, TexasTokyo Electron Limited (TEL), announced Tuesday that a jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York returned a verdict of liability against Discreet Industries Corporation of Mineola, New York, for misappropriation of Tokyo Electron Arizona's (TAZ's) trade secrets. The jury also returned a verdict against Ovadia Meron, the President of Discreet, personally for his role in that misappropriation.

At the trial, TAZ proved that Discreet copied stolen TAZ technical drawings for Eclipse replacement parts and corrupted TAZ's confidential supplier network for those valuable parts. The jury awarded TAZ compensatory damages on a wide number of bases, including $2 million for Discreet's misappropriation, $1 million for conversion of TAZ' technical drawings, $1 million for unfair competition under federal law, $1.3 million for unfair competition under New York state law and $1 million for Discreet and Meron's tortious interference with TAZ's supplier contracts. Notably, the jury also awarded punitive damages of $2.6 million against Meron personally, and $1 million against Discreet.

TAZ filed the lawsuit against Discreet and other replacement parts suppliers on May 21, 2001. The suppliers soon settled with TAZ, admitting liability and paying royalties to TAZ for their illegal business with Discreet. TAZ's PVD product linethe focus of the casewas sold to Metron Technology NV in 2003. TEL and TAZ continued to pursue this case as part of their ongoing policy to combat pirating of parts and tools.

"TEL feels that it is imperative to identify and prosecute companies that pirate parts and equipment. Non-qualified parts can result in damage to our tools, causing downtime and efficiency loss to our customers. In addition, damage created by pirated parts could result in potential safety hazards for anyone working on the tool. One of our top priorities is to try to stop the flow of pirated goods." said Zoltan Papp, TEL director, global legal & intellectual property. "This case is part of TEL's program against piracy which it will aggressively continue worldwide."