US sues Chinese company for stealing Motorola walkie-talkie secrets

The US Attorney’s Office has filed suit against the Chinese company Hytera for stealing trade secrets related to radio communication techniques needed to produce walkie-talkies.

The US Public Prosecution Service accuses Hytera of hiring Motorola employees and inducing them to steal trade secrets from their employer. While still employed by Motorola, some employees are said to have stolen documents from an internal database and have explained in emails to Hytera how they can use the described technology at the Chinese company.

These are techniques for back-and-forth radio communication such as those used for walkie-talkies. Hytera is said to have persuaded Motorola employees to make the switch between 2007 and 2020 by offering them higher salaries. Those employees would then have taken the company secrets and used them so that Hytera could develop its own walkie-talkies more quickly.

Hytera faces a fine of three times the value of the stolen trade secrets, including Motorola’s research and design costs, according to the US Justice Department. Motorola itself already won a case against its competitor at the beginning of 2020, in which it was awarded $ 765 million in damages. Last year, according to Hytera, that was reduced to $221 million. Hytera has always maintained that it has developed the two-way radio techniques itself.