Re: Offshore firmware management

Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

On 5/25/2024 5:10 PM, Joe Gwinn wrote:

On Sat, 25 May 2024 16:24:42 -0700, Don Y
<blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:
 

When outsourcing manufacture, what steps are you taking to protect
your IP (in the form of firmware) from unauthorized copying/counterfeiting
by the selected vendor *or* parties that may have access to their systems?

 
What is the capability and desire level of the threat actors?  If it's
an intelligence agency of reasonable large country, you probably
cannot do anything effective.

 
No.  The concern is that the contracted manufacturer (or, anyone with
access to his information systems) decides to go into business in
direct competition, simply by selling YOUR device at a cut-rate price
(not having to recover the engineering/development/warranty/support
costs that you have)

If you’re producing stuff in China, there are a bunch of ways to prevent
your factory from going into competition with you, including registering
your trademarks in China and structuring your contracts correctly. The
Harris Sliwoski blog is an excellent read on that stuff.
For instance, just a few days ago:

https://harris-sliwoski.com/chinalawblog/the-ten-keys-to-overseas-manufacturing-success/

Cheers

Phil Hobbs


--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs  Principal Consultant  ElectroOptical Innovations LLC /
Hobbs ElectroOptics  Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics