GF is seeking an injunction against IBM to prevent further use of its IP. Credit: Carson Masterson on Unsplash.

GlobalFoundries (GF), a semiconductor manufacturing company, has filed a lawsuit against IBM for disclosing its confidential intellectual property (IP) and trade secrets.

The lawsuit alleges that IBM unlawfully disclosed GF’s IP and trade secrets to its partners, including Intel and Rapidus, the latter a newly formed advanced logic foundry in Japan.

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According to the complaint, IBM executives described the partnerships with Intel and the Japanese company as being based on technology developed from research conducted at the Albany NanoTech Complex.

In 2015, IBM sold its microelectronics business to GF, including the technology in question that was developed together by the companies in Albany, New York.

Upon the sale, the right to licence and disclose that technology was transferred to GF.

The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York, where GF is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

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It is also seeking an injunction against IBM to prevent further unlawful use of its trade secrets.

GF claimed that IBM is unfairly benefiting from hundreds of millions of dollars in licencing revenue and other benefits by misappropriating its IP and trade secrets.

Additionally, GF claims that IBM is poaching its engineers and it has asked the court to end IBM’s recruitment, which is said to have accelerated since the IBM-Rapidus partnership was announced in December 2022.

In a statement to Reuters, IBM said” “GlobalFoundries filed this meritless lawsuit after a court rejected the company’s attempt to dismiss IBM’s legitimate fraud and breach of contract claims. Their allegations are entirely baseless, and we are confident that the court will agree.”