14 DAY TRIAL // US Steel Corp, an American steel manufacturer, has filed a petition with the US government, asking it to intervene and ban all steel imports from Chinese companies, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The steel maker is arguing that, in the past years, Chinese hackers have broken into the company's servers and stolen intellectual property regarding its manufacturing process.
US Steel doesn't say if the hacks have been carried out by the Chinese government, for-hire hackers, or economic espionage groups, but it has mentioned that steel manufactured in China is almost identical to the one the company sells.
US Steel is tired of having its research ripped off
The US government and the International Trade Commission have 30 days to respond to the petition, having the legal power to ban steel imports from Chinese companies, even if the steel reaches the US via intermediaries and other countries.
Besides stealing intellectual property, US Steel has also accused eleven Chinese steel makers of rigging market prices in their favor, and the company has also filed a second complaint with the International Trade Commission.
The US company is leaning on a section of international trade law that will force Chinese companies to prove their steel is not based on US Steel's patented carbon and alloy variations, instead of the other way around, which would imply that US Steel should show Chinese firms stole their steel manufacturing technology.
The US knows who is behind the hacks
Back in 2014, the US made official indictments against five Chinese military officials following the hacking of numerous US businesses, including US Steel.
Other companies hacked by the five hackers included Westinghouse Electric Co. (Westinghouse), US subsidiaries of SolarWorld AG (SolarWorld), Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI), the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW) and Alcoa Inc..
The five hackers' names are Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu, and Gu Chunhui, all officers in Unit 61398 of the Third Department of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). China has not yet moved to arrest these individuals, even if it arrested other hackers at the US' request this past fall.