A US federal judge has imposed a US$5m fine on a small Taiwanese company whose two senior officals were convicted of stealing trade secrets from Avery Dennison Corp. The case was the Justice Department's first to be brought to trial under the Econimic Espionage Act of 1996. The two officals were also penalized. Pin Yen Yang, 74, CEO of Four Pillars Enterprises Ltd., was sentenced to 6-months in home confinement and fined US$250,000. His daughter, Sally Yang, a former executive with the adhesives company, was placed on probation and ordered to pay US$5,000. Four Pillars and the officials were convicted in April 1999 of stealing technology developed by Diamond Bar, California-based Avery Dennison, a global company that develops and manufacturers pressure-sensitive adhesives.
