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Events Calendar SEC/N Golf Classic 2007 - January 22, 2007 SEC/N® once again hosted a very successful Annual Golf Classic and Conference on January 22-24, 2007. A “real cool” SEC/N Golf Classic was held this year on Monday, January 22nd at the Scottsdale (Starfire) Country Club. We narrowly “dodged a bullet” when it snowed in Scottsdale and the Phoenix area late on the previous afternoon. First place/lowest score went to Patrick Sheehan, the brother of Dave Sheehan (Canon). Closest to the hole prizes were won by Jeff Johnson (also in the Sheehan foursome), Chuck Svendsen (Belfor USA), and Steve Birdsong (Rite Track). The grand raffle winner was Emerald Greig (GE GES). Ron Melief (ASML) and Patrick Sheehan (Yes – Canon’s foursome again!) were also raffle winners. A reception and Italian buffet dinner were held at the Scottsdale Country Club directly following the golf tournament. The post golf dinner also served as the kickoff for the SEC/N Conference which started the next morning (23rd). Technology Investment Partners (TIP) sponsored the $50,000 Hole-In-One contest which unfortunately no one won. Rite Track and Axus Technology were closest-to-the-pin sponsors. All golfers and Conference attendees received SEC/N souvenir jackets, courtesy of the event’s title sponsor Babcock & Brown Electronics Management LLC. SEC/N’s Annual Conference was hosted by ASML at their Tempe, Arizona training facility. Participation in the Conference was limited to SEC/N member companies and invited speakers/guests. Tuesday morning’s session opened with an introduction of attendees and their companies, an update from SEC/N’s Regional Councils in Europe and Japan, feedback on the October (2006) regional meeting in Austin, a presentation on the new SEC/N REWARDS program, and a recognition of SEC/N’s outgoing Board members: President Tim Hayden (Rite Track), Secretary Bridgett Wright (Catalyst Equipment), Vice President Steve Grundon (Technology Investment Partners - TIP). In addition, Tim Hayden was specifically recognized for his leadership as SEC/N’s President for the past 2 ½ years. The balance of the morning session focused on the topic of intellectual property. Jaren Beckstrom (TEL) provided a very good overview of Tokyo Electron’s public policy on intellectual property. TEL is to be congratulated because many OEM’s today will not accept an invitation to publicly present their company’s IP policy. Jaren’s presentation was followed by another excellent presentation by the Watts Law Firm on “Antitrust and Related Business Litigation in the Semiconductor Industry.” SEC/N is, as a matter of public record, 100% in support of any organization’s right to the legal use and protection of their intellectual property. Consequently, SEC/N does not endorse, on the part of any party, the illegal interpretation or use of intellectual property rights. The Watts Law Firm presentation was very beneficial in helping the Conference attendees to better understand the law, as it is intended to apply to intellectual property, and the potential implications of what could happen when the rights to intellectual property are abused. The Tuesday afternoon session of the Conference was dedicated to SEC/N’s Annual Member Meeting. Required Annual Meeting reports and actions were appropriately overseen by SEC/N’s President, Tim Hayden. Formal Minutes of the Annual Member Meeting will be available to SEC/N members under the “Members Only Section” of the SEC/N website (www.secn.org). However, two significant actions worthy of public comment were the election of Mr. Peter Page (R.B. High Tech Transport) to SEC/N’s Board of Directors, and the ratification of recommendations from SEC/N’s Board of Directors regarding their proposed reorganization and future operations of SEC/N. Relative Bylaws’ revisions will be prepared and electronically submitted to SEC/N’s membership for adoption. Tuesday’s afternoon session was adjourned in time for the attendees and invited guests to meet for dinner and socialize at the Rustler’s Rooste Restaurant at the Point South Mountain in Phoenix. Wednesday morning’s session began with a presentation on Equipment Conformity and Compliance by Steve Barch (High Tech Design & Safety). Steve overviewed many of the semiconductor and other global rules, laws and standards requiring used equipment compliance that are either in existence or currently in the process of development. Gary Alexander (AMC International & SEC/N’s Executive Director) followed with an update on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and ANSI ISO efforts that are underway with regards to international trade guidelines and standards for “second hand goods.” All aspects of resold goods, including semiconductor and electronics manufacturing equipment, are included in the scope of these discussions. Gary (under AMC International) is participating as a member of both the WTO and ANSI ISO committees. The final presentation of the Conference was an industry forecast by Morry Marshall of Semico Research. Morry did his usual fine job of both conveying what Semico believes to be the future of the semiconductor industry through 2011 and tying that information to future projections for the semiconductor secondary market. A meeting of SEC/N’s Board of Directors directly followed the adjournment of the Conference at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, January 24th.
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