U.S Charges Leading Chinese Telecom Company Hytera Of Conspiring With An Ex-Motorola Employee To Steal Digital Mobile Radio Technology

The U.S. Justice Department announced on Monday (Feb 7) that it has brought criminal charges against China-based telecommunications company Hytera , accusing it of conspiring with a former employee of Motorola Solutions to steal the American company's digital mobile radio (DMR) technology.

The charges were unveiled by the department in the Northern District of Illinois court.

According to court documents, Motorola Solutions developed the DMR technology through years of research and design. Motorola Solutions marketed and sold the radios, which are sometimes referred to as “walkie-talkies,” in the United States and elsewhere.

Established in 1993, Hytera Communication is a leading provider of professional communications technologies and solutions. The company has 10 innovation and development centers located in China, Germany, UK, Spain and Canada.

Hytera Communications has been charged with recruiting and hiring Motorola employees and directing them to take proprietary and trade secret information from Motorola without authorization.

The charges allege that, while still employed at Motorola, some of the employees accessed the trade secret information from Motorola’s internal database and sent multiple emails describing their intentions to use the technology at Hytera.

The Justice Department charged Hytera and the recruited employees of using Motorola’s proprietary and trade secret information to accelerate the development of Hytera’s DMR products, train Hytera employees, and market and sell Hytera’s DMR products throughout the world.

According to the indictment, Hytera paid the recruited employees higher salaries and benefits than what they received at Motorola.

Hytera was charged with conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets. Hytera and others are also charged with individual counts of possession or attempted possession of stolen trade secrets.

If convicted, Hytera faces a potential criminal fine of three times the value of the stolen trade secret to the company, including expenses for research, design, and other costs that it avoided.

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.