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Magic Leap Accuses Chinese Company of Copying Trade Secrets

Accepted submission by takyon at 2019-06-21 13:56:46
Techonomics

Secretive Magic Leap Says Ex-Engineer Copied Headset for China [bloomberg.com]

Magic Leap Inc., a U.S. startup that makes a headset [bloomberg.com] to project digital objects onto the real world, accused one of its former engineers of stealing its technology to create his own augmented reality device for China.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, Magic Leap alleges that Chi Xu, who left in 2016, exploited its confidential information to "quickly develop a prototype of lightweight, ergonomically designed, mixed reality glasses for use with smart phones and other devices that are strikingly similar" to the Florida-based startup's designs.

The lawsuit marks the latest accusation from an American firm of intellectual property theft by Chinese companies, a perennial sore point that's helped escalate tensions between the world's two largest economies. With more than $2 billion in financing, Magic Leap is one of the better-funded startups delving into so-called augmented or mixed reality, a technology that gives users the illusion that fantastical, three-dimensional digital objects exist in the physical world.

Many have accused Magic Leap of being vaporware. But now its precious vapors have been collected by people who could actually make something out of it.

Also at The Verge [theverge.com].

Previously: Magic Leap Bashed for Being Vaporware [soylentnews.org]
Magic Leap Finally Announces a Product, But is It Still Vaporware? [soylentnews.org]


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