- 14 Huawei’s former workers have been sentenced to jail for secret robbery
- The former engineers went on to work at the Wi-Fi Zunpai chips startup
- Huawei has been on both sides of the LEP legal fence
A Shanghai court sentenced 14 former Huawei employees to jail for stealing commercial secrets related to chips, sending waves to the entire industry not only in China but also worldwide.
Employees worked for Zunpai Communication Technology, a startup founded to be HISILICON engineers, a Huawei unit.
The court issued prison terms of up to six years and imposed more financial sanctions in a ruling on July 28 that landed in favor of Huawei.
Shanghai Court prison ex -engineers from Huawei about secret robbery
After leaving Huawei in 2019, Zhang Kun, former Hysylicon researcher, founded Zunpai in 2021 and hired former co -workers. The startup was accused of using information patented by Huawei, although the company developed Wi-Fi communication chips.
According to the judicial documents of August 2023, the Huawei subsidiary requested that the Intellectual Property Court of Shanghai freeze assets under Zunpai and its subsidiaries valued at 95 million yuan.
The Court’s decision has not been made public online, and Huawei has not made any public comments regarding the case. According to a Post in the morning of southern China Report, engineers may still have reasons to challenge the decision.
In more general terms, it reflects a growing commitment in China towards the protection of intellectual property, with the attorney of the Supreme People of China indicating that 21,000 people were criminally prosecuted for IP crimes only in 2024, including a nine -year sentence for infringement of Criminal Criminal Rights of LEGO bricks (through Lego ( Review of the National Law).
However, for Huawai, it represents a reversal of roles. In 2019, the Shenzhen technology giant was accused of ten positions to steal Western technology, trying to steal secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
Techradar Pro has contacted Huawei for a comment, but we do not receive an immediate response.
