On August 27th, the entry "14 insiders were sentenced for infringing Huawei chip technology" topped the Weibo hot search list, attracting widespread attention from netizens.
According to the official WeChat account of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the case of Zunpai's infringement of Huawei HiSilicon chip technology trade secrets, which was guided by the Supreme People's Procuratorate and handled by the Shanghai procuratorial organs, was sentenced on July 28th. The 14 defendants did not file an appeal within ten days, and the first instance judgment has now come into effect.
It is reported that the illegally obtained technical information in this case is valued at 317 million yuan.
It is understood that HiSilicon is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huawei. Huawei launched a Wi Fi chip research and development project in 2011, which was later led by HiSilicon. The company invested a lot of manpower and resources in long-term independent research and development, obtained corresponding technical information of Wi Fi chips, and took reasonable confidentiality measures.
The defendant Zhang was originally the head of the RF chip development department of HiSilicon Company. After leaving, he founded Zunpai Company and recruited Zhou, Liu, Zhou, and Gu to join the new company before and after its establishment. Four people were appointed as executives and responsible for the corresponding technical departments. During this time, Zhang and five others discussed and decided to develop a Wi Fi chip similar to that of HiSilicon.
Afterwards, in order to shorten the research and development cycle, quickly enter mass production, and accelerate the attraction of financing, under the instruction of Zhang, Zhou and others continued to recruit seven employees from HiSilicon, including Gao and Wang, to join Zunpai Company, with good salary and development prospects as conditions. Seven individuals, at the request of Zunpai Company before and after their resignation, either independently or in collusion with employees Zhao and Tu who are still employed at HiSilicon Company, obtained HiSilicon Company's technical information through improper means such as screenshots, copying, and WeChat transmission, for the purpose of Zunpai Company's chip research and development.
On April 10, 2024, the Third Branch of the Shanghai Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Zhang and 14 others for the crime of infringing on trade secrets. During the review and prosecution period, the procuratorial organ interrogated the defendant in accordance with the law, informed the trade secret rights holder of the litigation rights and obligations, and focused on examining whether the technical information involved had non-public knowledge and identity.
According to the investigation team of the procuratorial organ, this is a very typical case of "insider" infringement of trade secrets, and the difficulty of handling the case is very high.
On the one hand, there are over 40 pieces of cutting-edge technical information involved in the case. In order to break down professional barriers, the investigation team has hired several senior experts in the communication industry to provide professional interpretation opinions on technical facts with the help of their "external brains". Through repeated and cross disciplinary discussions, a solid foundation has been laid for subsequent legal qualitative analysis, ensuring the accuracy of legal judgments;
On the other hand, there are 14 defendants involved in different types of technical information infringement. The investigation team needs to accurately distinguish the roles played by each defendant in the joint crime, identify the secrets involved in each defendant's case and their estimated value.
Faced with the defendant's defense in court, the prosecutor carried out court education in a progressive manner from the three levels of evidence, legal principles, and emotions, and ultimately the defendant voluntarily pleaded guilty.
On July 28th, the Third Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai made a first instance judgment, adopting the prosecution's prosecution opinions and sentencing recommendations, and found all 14 defendants guilty of the crime of infringing on trade secrets. Among them, Zhang was sentenced to six years in prison and fined 3 million yuan; Zhou Moujia, Liu Mou, Zhou Mouyi, and Gu Mou were each sentenced to five to three years in prison and fined between 1.2 million and 1.5 million yuan; Nine people including Gao and Wang were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment and suspended, and fined between 200000 yuan and 1 million yuan.
The head of the Intellectual Property Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate stated that trade secrets are important intellectual property rights in modern economic society, not only related to the security of key core technologies of enterprises, but also to the high-quality development of the country. In recent years, the procuratorial organs have continuously increased the judicial protection of trade secrets, cracked down on crimes of infringing trade secrets in accordance with the law, and served innovative development with the power of the rule of law.
