SEC/N Thoughts

I have always enjoyed cartoons, especially Wile E. Coyote's vain attempts to do in the Road Runner. The absurd lengths to which the coyote stoops in trying to catch the Road Runner make his antics just that much more ridiculous. The same analogy can be used to describe the lengths to which some companies and organizations go in trying to do in the secondary market for semiconductor and electronics equipment.

While some attempts are blatant, the majority are more clandestine. These attempts are often disguised as infringements on intellectual property (IP) rights, and they seem to proliferate when the economy is struggling, like it is now.

The SEMATECH Surplus Equipment Council (SSEC) and SEC/N have both published position papers on the common sense approach to operational software rights of equipment resold on the secondary market. Yet, some OEMs continue to insist that they won't support their equipment unless the secondary buyer pays a fee to re-license the embedded software. I would be willing to bet that these same people would go ballistic if they bought a used car and then received a letter from Detroit advising them to park their vehicle until they secured a software license to operate that car.

We are also seeing attempts to control the secondary market through the illegal withholding of spare parts. From both an equipment availability and industry health standpoint, semiconductor and electronics manufacturers must be able to secure refurbished equipment internationally from both reputable remanufacturers and OEMs. Legally protecting one's IP is one thing — restraint of trade is another.

The solution is not to be found in ill-advised policies, intimidation and litigation based on laws many countries don't recognize. The answer is for OEMs, brokers, refurbishers and chipmakers to come together with companies that already are collectively striving to establish mutually beneficial solutions to these and other industry challenges.

Beep! Beep! The used-equipment business continues to zoom internationally, leaving in the dust some greedy coyotes who are still hankering to snare themselves a road runner.