I think they meant the more classic IP in the sense of "extremely sensitive information" like design decisions and product design information and definitely cus

I think they meant the more classic IP in the sense of "extremely sensitive information" like design decisions and product design information and definitely customer/vendor lists getting misappropriated. I've seen firsthand reports of casual breaking and entering to see installation designs followed up with "that person was not authorized to be there and been terminated" which isn't really the point. [Edit: Not talking about Huawei, other Chinese companies.] And we all have heard of the many reports of counterfeit goods being basically scavenged from the same assembly lines as the original products. And also seen people try to cut out their business partner and go to their vendors directly, often directly in conflict with their NDAs, because they can save money by going upstream. I can't blame them for the intent, but it's unethical to do so if you promise not to. These are easy to distinguish from patents. Patents suck for almost everyone, and only have gotten worse now that it's not even clear that I can create something and publish it to the public and actually rely on no one filing patents later down the road for stuff in my public disclosure. This used to be my strategy with LED lights, I'd just release the schematics, board files, firmware, concepts, etc on my blog and send it to various popular news sites because I'm not interested in getting patents for my stuff (including, it seems, the world's first direct wifi LED color changing lights in 2010, two years earlier than LiFX, but I haven't researched in depth). I just don't want Philips patenting the idea and suing me for doing it later (they did anyway I'm sure). Example: https://slashdot.org/submission/1393662/arduino-based-high-powered-led-lights-over-wifi https://slashdot.org/submission/1393662/arduino-based-high-p... Getting your companies 10 years of work to develop something commandeered by government fiat, espionage, or corporate malfeasance is very different and I think hurts innovation. Why bother if you know as soon as they copy you you won't be able to compete anymore because you've already spent $100M to develop it and have R&D to pay back.