Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

At 2 p.m., Ted arrived at the company on time.

Catherine made him a cup of coffee first. Her latte art skills have become increasingly proficient lately, and she could probably find a job at a coffee shop now.

Ted walked into the conference room with a cup in his hand. Chen Yiran and Gao Dewei were already sitting inside. On the table was the FedEx envelope and an open letter.

Ted read the letter from beginning to end, word for word, with great care, which made Chen Yiran feel that the situation was not good.

After a moment of anxiety, I heard TED calmly say, "I read dozens of Cadence's support letters every year. In Silicon Valley's EDA circle, former Cadence employees will definitely receive one within three months of joining a new company."

He pointed to the last line on the letter and explained.

"Look here, this letter does not constitute any specific accusation, but is merely a friendly reminder. This isn't just politeness, it's the truth, and their lawyers are leaving themselves a way out. If they make specific accusations but have no evidence, we can file a countersuit for malicious prosecution. That's why they specify that it's just a reminder, not an accusation; it's simply to put some pressure on them."

"So this letter is meaningless?"

"Legally, it's nothing; it's a paper tiger with no threat. It's not a lawsuit, not a warning letter, not even a lawyer's letter in the strict sense. Reminding someone to abide by confidentiality obligations is not illegal, does not infringe on any rights, and does not create any legal obligations. No reply is needed; they just sent it casually."

Chen Yiran was a little speechless. So it was just a scare tactic: "Let me double-check, then just ignore it?"

"Yes, just ignore it. This is a trick they use to deceive people. Some employees who start their own businesses might foolishly reply with an explanation if they haven't hired a lawyer. That would expose their company's general situation, team, and technical direction completely."

Gao Dewei leaned back in his chair and laughed, "I told you there was no problem. All my former colleagues had this. Chen Yiran just didn't believe me and insisted on inviting you over to take a look."

"You didn't spend your money for nothing. I'm here to explain things to you clearly. What is this letter reminding Gao Dewei to abide by? A proprietary information agreement."

There are two layers to this. The first layer is the obligation of confidentiality: you cannot disclose proprietary information or trade secrets that you come into contact with during your time at Cadence to any third party. This obligation is indeed ongoing and does not disappear just because you leave the company.

The second layer is a non-compete clause, which restricts where you can work.

"Did my contract with Cadence include a non-compete clause? I don't recall signing such a clause."

"I don't know, I haven't seen the original, but most likely if you remember correctly, you didn't sign it. Because California law, Business and Professions Code 16600, clearly states that any contract that restricts any person from engaging in any legal profession, trade, or business is invalid."

Therefore, non-compete clauses are essentially meaningless in this state and will not be enforced. Cadence is a California company, and since you work in California, you are governed by California law. So it's very likely they never actually made you sign one; they were just trying to scare you. However, we should still be prepared.

"Tell me in detail how to prepare."

"Gao Dewei left Cadence in 2007, and it's now 2010. In the three years between, he was teaching and doing consulting, and he didn't write a single line of placement code. The first line of code for FlowEDA was written this April. It uses reinforcement learning plus an incremental computing engine, which is a completely different technical approach from Cadence's QPlace."

Every point in time and every technical detail is crucial. When it comes to litigation, the timeline is paramount.

Chen Yiran nodded and said, "Then you can help us prepare. Can I take that you mean they will eventually sue us after our company starts to do well?"

"They will definitely sue; there's no room for wishful thinking. The cost is too low for them; they'd do it even if it was just a casual attempt. If they succeed, they'll make a fortune."

In terms of specific directions, the first is patent infringement. You have patents for DeepFlow, and they have patents for placement. They will try every means to find loopholes, and even if they can't find any, they will forcefully try. They will try to drag you into a long lawsuit. Patent litigation in the EDA industry has a characteristic: more than 90% of cases end in a settlement.

This is an open conspiracy; they want you to engage in cross-licensing with them. Since legal fees aren't cheap anyway, in the end, it's better to back down.

The patent networks among the three giants have become so dense that none of them can function without the others. Synopsys sued Cadence, Cadence sued Mentor, and Mentor sued Synopsys, engaging in lawsuits for thirty years, all ending in settlements. This is an operating cost, just like utility bills.

As a new player, if you're not strong enough, they'll do everything they can to take you down. If you're strong enough, they'll find a way to pull you into this patent network.

"That's the first one, what's the second one?"

"The second one is more troublesome than patents: trade secret lawsuits. They'll say you stole Cadence's stuff and used it in FlowEDA's products."

Gao Dewei sighed and said, "I know what you're going to say, the Avant! case back then, right? But our situations are completely different. FlowEDA's approach is completely different; I didn't take anything from the company."

"I know. But you need to know how Cadence's lawyers will operate."

Ted pulled a printed document from his briefcase, a brief summary of the Avant! case, and then explained it to Chen Yiran.

In 1995, Gerald Hsu, the vice president of Cadence, left the company to found Arcsys, which was later renamed Avant!, to develop placement and routing tools. What was originally a routine business competition caused Cadence significant losses.

But one day, a junior employee at Cadence discovered a small bug while testing Avant!. Then, a turning point occurred, because he was the one who wrote the bug.

A very, very basic mistake. Error a: color not found in this file.

He misplaced the 'a', but this gave Cadence an opportunity to eventually report the crime. The FBI's investigation eventually revealed that Xu Jianguo had specifically formed a cleanup team to rewrite the stolen code to make it look plagiarized, but ultimately, even the best-laid plans can have oversights.

Finally, in 2001, Xu Jianguo and several senior executives pleaded guilty and were all imprisoned. Avant! paid nearly 400 million yuan in damages: 195 million yuan in compensation and 182 million yuan in legal fees. The remaining wreckage was acquired by Synopsys for 800 million US dollars.

Gao Dewei took a sip of coffee: "Sigh, this case has had a huge impact. Cadence's founder, Zhao Guangdou, felt betrayed by a fellow countryman who was stabbed, and he has become very low-key ever since. He even avoids Chinese people. Later, he completely stopped managing the company, and I heard that he still avoids Chinese people now."

TED nodded and said, "This letter is about its subsequent impact. After the Avant! case, Cadence learned a trick: send a letter to former employees regardless of whether they stole or not. The Avant! case proved that you can send the real thieves to jail, so surely you can scare the remaining 99% of people who didn't steal with a letter, right?"

This is the source of the letter you received today. It's a muscle memory for Cadence's legal department after the Avant! case. That's why I said he would definitely sue you. They'll try anything involving a former employee who was deeply involved.

"So what do we need to do?"

"Four things to do starting now."

Ted closed his notebook and began listing items one by one.

"First, have Gao Dewei find the original agreement he signed with Cadence and give it to me. I need to check each clause to see if it exceeds the scope permitted by California law. If so, prepare a contingency plan in advance."

Second, all development records are preserved. This includes Git commit history, design documents, internal emails, and meeting minutes. I've reminded you of this before; just pay extra attention to it, especially making sure to back up your data.

Third, starting today, Gao Dewei, you cannot discuss technical issues with anyone still working at Cadence. Even if you bump into a former colleague at a restaurant and exchange pleasantries, do not mention what flowEDA is doing. Or, you should simply avoid your former colleagues.

Fourth, the intellectual property ownership agreement you signed upon joining the company. There's no problem with that. Your previous agreement was drafted by our law firm; I reviewed it before I came, and it's fine. All intellectual property rights automatically belong to the company during your employment; the contract is already locked.

Chen Yiran nodded and said, "Okay, I'm still a little nervous. The lawyer's fees are too expensive. Let's try our best to do the preliminary work well. I just hope that the lawyer in charge of us won't waste time driving to other people's houses every day to collect legal fees."

TED said with a helpless expression, "Ask around Silicon Valley, we've already been very conscientious. In short, just follow the requirements strictly, because there shouldn't be any major problems. However, you need to have an expectation: if your product is good, then you need to set aside hundreds of thousands for litigation. If your product is very good, then you need to set aside a million. If your product is revolutionary..."

"I think two or three million is necessary; Cadence will go to great lengths to harass you."

After seeing TED off, Gao Dewei said to Chen Yiran, "It seems we need to set aside a few million for the lawsuit. Our progress here is very good. You've seen the records. We can try to rent a booth at the semiconductor manufacturing equipment exhibition next Monday."

Chen Yiran nodded: "Okay, let's rent one then. The current results are already amazing enough, it's time for an industry-level debut."