Danyong Sunday, the 25-year-old suicide victim who was working on contract mobile phone maker Foxconn International gray and white mass in the compound of the Dongguan factory, with 16 prototypes of the new Apple iPhone in its fourth generation of power, according to the Taiwanese company.
When a missing person, the security guards of Foxconn raided his apartment, according to a report in the People’s Daily. The phone was not presented.
One likely answer, according to security experts, is that the equipment ended up in the hands of Shenzhen enterprise known counterfeiters.
"The copy of the prototypes certainly happens a lot in electronics and technology," said Dane Chamorro, regional general manager of risk control, a business research consulting firm. "You do not have to steal them, you only need to borrow for a day."
A representative from Foxconn was unavailable for comment. The company is a supplier of brands such as Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson.
In an earlier interview with the New York Times, Foxconn, the general manager of China Mr. Sun said the products had lost "several times" before coming to them again.
Apple Computer, whose popular iPhone is widely copied in China, is not the only foreign team to suffer at the hands of counterfeiters. Knock-offs from Samsung, Nokia and Motorola are all the products are sold openly throughout China.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 81 percent of all counterfeit goods seized at U.S. borders are from China. The value of goods increased 40 percent in 2008 to $ 221.7 million.
"China is the most risky for foreign firms to introduce their leading-edge technologies," said Steve Vickers, president of Hong Kong based on the IFA-International Risk. "It remains a major problem."
In a recent visit to the Golconda Cyber Plaza, a huge electronics mall in Shenzhen, suggests the magnitude of the challenge. Hundreds of vendors is how this chain reaction outside of mobile phones, including the counterfeiting of Nokia and Samsung phones and the latest Apple iPhone, which sold for about $ 63 in the U.S., much cheaper than U.S. Apple charged $ 579 in Hong Kong online store.
"The iPhone is good quality and very stable," said Li Jinhui, a seller of Shenzhen Guanghui Communication, one of the sellers phone, pointing to one of the phones of falsified screen. "The real price of the phone is too expensive, so many people buy this place."
THEFT OF DESIGNS
The copy has several forms. In some cases, companies copy phones already on the market. In others, local suppliers of foreign companies to run additional shifts and sell surplus goods on the side. Then there are designs that are stolen, even before production.
The latter may be the most damaging because it undermines efforts to build costly anticipation of upcoming products.
Thieves have become adept at exploiting weaknesses in security companies. According to Nicholas White, director general associated with the security firm Kroll, a typical Chinese factory is only protected by guards who check the ID of employees entering the facility.
"Unfortunately, most of these systems for intellectual property theft is a factory, is not someone in the break," said Blanco. "In general, an employee or contractor who has access to the facility."
While internal security is more elaborate, counterfeiters may be able to identify which employees have access to product samples and bribery.
"If you wanted to know what a design company to the next could very well be the target of the OEMs, which are organizations of holding prototypes," Chamorro said. "It’s not rocket science to throw money at them."
Weakening ENFORCEMENT
China’s legal system has not helped matters. Intellectual property cases are difficult to achieve and even harder to implement, according to lawyers. One problem is that the penal code of China specifies a minimum value of seized property in order to trigger a criminal action – Seizures valued at less than 50,000 yuan ($ 7,330) are not pursued by police. Counterfeiters have responded by limiting the size and value of shipments.
Another concern is that the fight against piracy may have weakened the implementation of China during the economic slowdown. According to a report by the Anti-Coalition, members of the coalition have said that local police were under instructions not to pursue criminal cases against counterfeiters.
"Overall, we have seen a decline," he said in a Hong Kong lawyer who declined to be named. "There is much concern that the government has openly said local forces not to follow the highest number of cases due to the impact it could have on employment and social stability."