Chinese inventiveness shows the weakness of the law

AS THE DOTCOM boom was approaching its peak in 1999, Yi Li was working for JDS Uniphase, a Silicon Valley company that made lasers and optical fibres. JDS was a high-flyer, with a market capitalisation fives times the value of Apple at that time. Investors loved the firm for its role in building out the infrastructure of the internet. But when boom turned to crash JDS’s share price plunged by 99.8%. Employees whose stock options had made them paper millionaires lost it all overnight. “I got killed by the bubble,” says Mr Li. “I was too young, too naive. But it was a very good lesson.”