First-Time Offenders in Huawei Commercial Secret Case Sentenced to 6-Year Prison Term, Total Fine of ¥13.5 Million
Tech News on Phoenix Net 8th August, Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court handed down a verdict on the case of Honor infringement on Huawei's commercial secrets on July 28th, with a total of 14 employees from Honor being sentenced to imprisonment, totaling ¥13.5 million.
The judgment is as follows:
(1) Defendant Zhang was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 6 years and a fine of ¥3 million;
(2) Defendant Zhou was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 5 years and a fine of ¥1.2 million;
(3) Defendant Liu was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 4 years and 6 months, with a fine of ¥1.5 million;
(4) Defendant Zhou was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 4 years, with a fine of ¥1.2 million;
(5) Defendant Gu was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 3 years, with a fine of ¥1.2 million;
(6) Defendant Gao was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 2 years, with a delay of 2 years, and a fine of ¥80,000;
(7) Defendant Zhang was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 2 years and 6 months, with a delay of 2 years and 6 months, and a fine of ¥100,000;
(8) Defendant Wang was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 1 year and 9 months, with a delay of 1 year and 9 months, and a fine of ¥70,000;
(9) Defendant Zhao was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 1 year, with a delay of 1 year, and a fine of ¥20,000;
(10) Defendant He was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 1 year and 6 months, with a delay of 1 year and 6 months, and a fine of ¥70,000;
(11) Defendant Yu was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 1 year and 3 months, with a delay of 1 year and 3 months, and a fine of ¥60,000;
(12) Defendant Liu was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 1 year and 6 months, with a delay of 1 year and 6 months, and a fine of ¥70,000;
(13) Defendant Tu was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 1 year, with a delay of 1 year, and a fine of ¥20,000;
(14) Defendant Shen was convicted of infringing on commercial secrets and was sentenced to a prison term of 1 year, with a delay of 1 year, and a fine of ¥50,000;
On December 21st, 2023, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau's ECID public account published a report saying that in recent months, under the command of the Ministry of Public Security and with the assistance of Jiangsu Provincial Police, Shanghai police successfully cracked down on a case of infringement on Huawei's commercial secrets, apprehended 14 suspects, and seized 7 servers storing illegal chip technology information.
The report said that after investigation, it was found that in February 2021, the original high-level executives at Huawei, including Zhang and Liu, set up a new company to lure away many research and development personnel from Huawei with high salaries and stock options. They instructed these employees to illegally obtain chip technology information from Huawei before they left the company, which was then used to design chips for their own company, attempting to make illegal profits.
After evaluation, it was found that the infringing chip technology had 40 technical points identical to 90% of Huawei's commercial secrets, constituting a substantial equivalent. The actions of Zhang and his team in stealing secrets led to the loss of Huawei's commercial secrets, which should be evaluated based on the research and development costs and the revenue generated by implementing these commercial secrets.
At that time, the report said that the main suspects, including Zhang, Liu, and 4 others, were arrested by police for allegedly infringing on commercial secrets. The remaining 10 suspects were released on bail.
The report drew widespread attention at the time, with media outlets noting that the company involved was indeed Honor Communication Technology (Nanjing) Co., Ltd.