According to the official WeChat account of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, recently, the Intellectual Property Procuratorate of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate reported that the case of Zunpai infringing on Huawei’s HiSilicon chip technology trade secrets, guided by the Shanghai procuratorial authorities, was adjudicated on July 28. None of the 14 defendants appealed within ten days, and the first-instance judgment has now taken effect. It is reported that the illegally obtained technical information is valued at 317 million yuan.
It is understood that HiSilicon is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huawei. Huawei initiated the Wi-Fi chip research and development project in 2011, which was later undertaken by HiSilicon, investing significant human and material resources for long-term independent research and development, obtaining relevant technical information for Wi-Fi chips, and implementing reasonable confidentiality measures.
The defendant, Zhang, was originally the head of the RF chip development department at HiSilicon. After leaving, he founded Zunpai and recruited Zhou A, Liu, Zhou B, Gu, and others to join before and after the establishment of the new company, appointing four of them as executives responsible for the corresponding technical departments. During this time, Zhang and the other five decided to develop a Wi-Fi chip similar to that of HiSilicon.
Subsequently, to shorten the R&D cycle, quickly enter mass production, and accelerate financing, under Zhang’s instructions, Zhou A and others recruited seven employees from HiSilicon, including Gao and Wang, with attractive salary packages and development prospects. At the request of Zunpai before and after their resignation, the seven individuals, either independently or in collusion with still-employed HiSilicon staff Zhao and Tu, illegally obtained technical information from HiSilicon through improper means such as screenshots, notes, and WeChat transmissions, for use in Zunpai’s chip development.
On April 10, 2024, the Third Branch of the Shanghai People’s Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Zhang and the other 14 for the crime of infringing trade secrets. During the review and prosecution period, the procuratorial authorities legally interrogated the defendants, informed the trade secret rights holders of their litigation rights and obligations, and focused on examining whether the involved technical information possessed non-publicity and identity.
According to the case handling team from the procuratorial authorities, this is a very typical case of “insider” infringement of trade secrets, with significant difficulty in handling. On one hand, the involved technical information includes over 40 items and belongs to cutting-edge technology. To break through professional barriers, the case handling team hired several senior experts from the communications industry to provide professional interpretations of the technical facts, laying a solid foundation for subsequent legal qualification analysis through repeated and cross-verified discussions, ensuring the accuracy of legal judgments; on the other hand, there are 14 defendants, each involved in different technical information infringements, requiring the team to accurately distinguish each defendant’s role in the joint crime and determine the secret points and their valuation amounts for each defendant. During the case handling process, the procuratorial authorities also issued precise prosecutorial suggestions regarding the internal management loopholes of the victimized enterprise, providing a “vulnerability report” for the enterprise and an “upgrade blueprint” for its “immune system.” In response to the defendants’ courtroom defenses, the prosecutors conducted courtroom education progressively from evidence, legal principles, and emotional appeals, ultimately leading all defendants to voluntarily plead guilty.
On July 28, the Shanghai Third Intermediate People’s Court made a first-instance judgment, adopting the prosecution’s opinions and sentencing recommendations, finding all 14 defendants guilty of infringing trade secrets. Among them, Zhang was sentenced to six years in prison and fined 3 million yuan; Zhou A, Liu, Zhou B, and Gu were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to three years, with fines between 1.5 million and 1.2 million yuan; Gao, Wang, and the other nine were sentenced to prison with probation and fined between 1 million and 200,000 yuan.
The head of the Intellectual Property Procuratorate of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate stated that trade secrets are an important form of intellectual property in modern economic society, relating not only to the security of key core technologies of enterprises but also to the high-quality development of the country. In recent years, the procuratorial authorities have continuously strengthened the judicial protection of trade secrets, legally combating crimes that infringe on trade secrets, and using the rule of law to serve innovative development.
Source: Supreme People’s Procuratorate
Material source: Official media/online news