US-based Microchip Technology Inc. has brought a leading Chinese semiconductor maker to court in Shanghai, accusing the company of infringing the copyright of its database.

The world's paramount chip maker is suing Shanghai Haier Integrated Circuit Co. on charges of copying the microcode and the data manual of the Microchip-patented Microcontroller Unit (MCU) -- PIC16CXXX.

"Microchip has devoted huge resources to developing the data manual and the microcode, and we have solid evidence to prove Shanghai Haier has violated our copyrights," said Yang Jinzhu, vice president of Microchip Asia Pacific.

According to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the copyright should be protected in China just as it is in the United States, Yang said.

Shanghai Haier said in a statement "Microchip's accusation is a distortion aimed to restrain Haier and intimidate its clients, which Haier cannot accept".

The statement said Haier owned the intellectual property rights of all its products. "Haier's MCU is not completely compatible with Microchip's. Our products have more functions and better resistance to interference," it said.

Chen Shu, a Haier marketing manager, said "the company will cooperate with the judicial investigation but I am sure we won't lose the case."

The case has been accepted and will be heard at Shanghai First Intermediate People's Court.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2007)