IMAX claims ex-employee stole its technology, fled to China 

BY GIUSEPPE VALIANTE ,NATIONAL BUREAU

  MONDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2014

OTTAWA - IMAX, the Canadian company that created the iconic, big-screen film format, is suing a former employee it claims stole its proprietary technology and fled to China to form his own film company.

IMAX sued Gary Tsui in Ontario, Los Angeles, as well as in Beijing, and despite reports that the two sides are negotiating a settlement, IMAX refused Monday to speak publicly on the case.

IMAX's expansion into the Chinese market has exposed the company to competition that allegedly doesn't play by North American rules. And IMAX's chances of getting retribution against its former employee are not strong, according to two intellectual property experts.

Tsui was a high-level IMAX engineer who worked in the company's Ontario office from 1999 to 2009. Court documents state that several months after Tsui quit, IMAX lost a contract to build a 3D theatre in a museum in Hangzhou, China, to an "unknown" company reportedly run by Tsui.

The company claims in court documents that Tsui "could not have independently developed the necessary technology ... that took IMAX over four decades to create."

None of the accusations have been tested in court.

University of Toronto computer science Prof. Eugene Fiume said he would be "very surprised" if IMAX wins its case in Chinese courts because of the discrepancies in copyright law in Canada and China.

Ariel Katz, a U of T professor who specializes in intellectual property, told QMI Agency that while IMAX says it took decades to develop its technology, it doesn't mean that it's all a secret.

"Yes, it took 40 years," Katz said. "But you disclosed a lot of stuff (publicly) and through the sales of your machines, they can be reversed engineered."