According to the Chinese news outlet, the CEO of MicroBT and the former employee of Bitmain Yang Zuoxing has been arrested by the police over an intellectual property dispute filed by Bitmain. Yang was responsible for designing Bitmain’s leading miners, who left the company in 2016 after he was denied equity stake in the company by its co-founder Micree Zhan.
Bitmain sued MicroBT over patent rights.
Yang formed his own company after leaving Bitmain, which went on to become one of the main rivals of Bitmain. Soon after the launch of MicroBT, Bitmain filed a lawsuit against the company over patent rights. But the court dismissed the case on the grounds that the circuit designs in questions were widely used, as reported by Bloomberg.
BREAKING
WhatsMiner/MicroBT Founder Dr. YANG Zuoxing is now under investigation by the police 🚔
🤯🤯🤯
YANG is allegedly IP theft by Bitmain/Micree, **BEFORE** he was “fired” by Jihan and the whole recent #BitmainDrama
YANG was the key designer of S9 back in the days
— Dovey 以德服人 Wan 🗝 🦖 (@DoveyWan) November 8, 2019
Bitmain also sued three former employees who started a mining pool earlier this year. The company is seeking $4 million in damages as they alleged that former employees violated their non-compete agreements.
Bitmain’s civil war continues.
Earlier this month, Bitmain’s co-founder Micree Zhan was abruptly ousted from the company. However, Zhan revealed that he would take legal action against the company for removing him without his consent as he promised to join back Bitmain soon.
