A federal judge in Chicago fined Chinese telecommunications company Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. $50 million on Mar. 9 for conspiring to steal proprietary technology from Illinois-based Motorola Solutions, Inc.
The case centers on actions beginning in 2006, when Hytera recruited and hired Motorola employees and directed them to take proprietary and trade secret information without authorization. The stolen material related to Motorola’s digital mobile radio technology, which the company had developed over years of research and design. Engineers used this information, including source code, to develop products for Hytera at a much lower cost than it took Motorola to create the original technology. Hytera then competed with Motorola in the digital radio market through 2020.
Hytera pleaded guilty last year in the Northern District of Illinois to a federal charge of conspiracy to steal trade secrets. In addition to the fine, U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp, Jr. sentenced Hytera to five years of probation with conditions that include maintaining an effective compliance program and annual reporting of that program to the government. The court also ordered Hytera to pay approximately $214 million in restitution, offset by payments previously made as part of a civil judgment.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The Department of Justice’s National Security Division provided assistance in the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas P. Peabody and Wesley A. Morrissette.
In 2021, seven Hytera employees were indicted in federal court in Chicago for their alleged roles in stealing from Motorola Solutions. One defendant, Gee Siong Kok, pleaded guilty in 2022 and agreed to cooperate with authorities; he is awaiting sentencing while warrants have been issued for six other defendants.
