The indictment includes 21 counts against the technology supplier. According to the document, the grand jury was convened in November 2019 and the indictment itself was filed in May 2021.
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In March 2017, Motorola Solutions sued Hytera in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleging theft of trade secrets. In that suit, Motorola alleged that three previous Motorola employees had downloaded Motorola trade secrets and then taken them to Hytera, where they were used in Hytera’s Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) products.
Shortly after that filing, Motorola filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging copyright infringement. In November 2018, the ITC affirmed that the Hytera had infringed several Motorola trade secrets.
And in February 2020, a jury for the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois awarded Motorola $764.6M in damages after determining that Hytera had taken Motorola’s trade secrets and used them in its products. Hytera is currently appealing that decision.
Large portions of the indictment’s description of the defendants in the case are redacted but it appears the indictment is against the three former Motorola employees, as well was Hytera.
The indictment covers many of the same allegations that Motorola made against Hytera during the ITC and Illinois proceedings.
Count one in the indictment charges the defendants with taking Motorola’s trade secrets. The remaining counts charge the defendants with knowingly possessing or attempting to possess several different Motorola trade secrets. Each of those counts is charged against Hytera Communications, as well as one or more of the individual defendants but it is not clear how many of those accounts applies to different individual defendants because of the redaction.
The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorneys Melody Wells, Steven Dollear and Vikas Didwania for the Northern District of Illinois.
Hytera US, the U.S. subsidiary of Hytera Communications said that it was aware of the indictment unsealed against Hytera.
“The indictment is grounded in activities that allegedly occurred in China 15 years ago – well before Hytera US was founded,” Hytera US’s statement said. “Hytera US Inc. is not a party to the indictment and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The allegations underlying the indictment were the subject of a civil case brought by Motorola against HCC that targeted certain higher end legacy models. Neither the civil case nor the indictment relates to the Hytera products most popular in the United States. Most importantly, neither relates to Hytera’s new H-Series DMR radios.”
If convicted under the indictment, Hytera would face a potential criminal fine of three times the value of the stolen trade secrets, including “expenses for research, design and other costs it avoided,” a release from the DoJ said.
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Hytera US Inc is aware of the recent unsealing of an indictment against Hytera Communications Corporation HCC . The indictment is grounded in activities that allegedly occurred in China 15 years ago well before Hytera US was founded.
Hytera US Inc is not a party to the indictment and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The allegations underlying the indictment were the subject of a civil case brought by Motorola against HCC that targeted certain higher end legacy models. Neither the civil case nor the indictment relates to the Hytera products most popular in the United States.
Most importantly neither relates to Hytera s new H-Series DMR Radios. Hytera US Inc.
Motorola is trying to destroy a competitor which indeed COPIED his DMRs consistently or inconsistently and of course has the right to get reimbursed. Now using his influence he got the DOJ is involved in the case. Maybe this is time that Motorola start manufacturing in the US helping the Binden Administrations to buy US products.