How phillips protected ip by not outsourcing key manufacturing components

<p>Manufacturing in China always exposes companies to IP leakages. To prevent this, Phillips designed DVD/CD-read/writers in such a way that they could be manufactured in China, but they had to be calibrated in-house. The machine for aligning the lasers and detectors was custom built and never outsourced. </p> <p>Without a key element in the manufacturing process, even if the factory could copy the design, it could have never (at least no easily) sell the products. </p> <p><a class="wikilink" href="/splitting_know-how/">Splitting know-how</a> into different units is a technique that complements the known paths of patents, trademarks, etc. at a core level, avoiding legal fees and very cumbersome processes. </p> <p>I do think that many semiconductor companies employ the same approaches</p> <p>Tags: <a href="/tags/intellectual-property-protetction">#intellectual-property-protetction</a> <a href="/tags/phillips">#phillips</a></p>