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- BUSINESS, Page 49Business NotesSOFTWAREWhat's the Big Secret?
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- The U.S. is keen on boosting exports to Japan, but Ronald
- Hoffman may have gone too far. Federal agents arrested the
- Beverly Hills executive on June 14 for illegally exporting
- software designed for the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star
- Wars. Five Japanese companies, including Nissan Motor and
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, have acknowledged buying the
- software, called Contam. Estimated prices: $150,000 to
- $450,000. Hoffman, 51, allegedly obtained the technology,
- designed for identifying missiles by their exhaust plumes,
- while working as an engineer on a Star Wars project in Los
- Angeles. If convicted, he faces a $1 million fine and ten years
- in prison. All the Japanese firms have denied knowing that
- Hoffman had no export license for the software.
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