Two top executives of VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子), the world's second-largest maker of chipsets for personal computers, have been charged with industrial espionage, copyright violations and breach of trust, local media reported yesterday.
On Friday the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office indicted VIA chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅) and her husband Chen Wen-chi (陳文琦), president of the company, for the alleged theft of technology from one of their client-competitors, D-Link Corp (
Prosecutors sought four-year jail terms for both Wang and Chen, who were accused of bribing an executive, Chang Chih-hao (張至皓), to facilitate the theft of an integrated-circuit (IC) chip simulation-based test program developed by rival D-Link.
A three-year sentence was also recommended for Chang if he was convicted of working for Wang and Chen to steal D-Link's secrets.
According to media reports, Wang and Chen allegedly instructed Chang, who had worked as a marketing manager at VIA since 1995, to join D-Link's software-development department in 2000 and re-produce the program for VIA's use after coming back to his former employer in 2001.
Wang and Chen allegedly paid Chang an extra bonus of some NT$1.5 million when he left the company on a paycheck of NT$1.22 million in total, the report added.
Chen yesterday dismissed the accusation, denying playing any role in the alleged industrial espionage.
Downplaying the allegation to be a misunderstanding, Chen told Era News yesterday that "a lot of family and company employees are innocent."
VIA, a leading chipmaker with US$720 million in revenues last year, argued that D-Link had played up the event from an employee's making a career choice to groundless allegations of corporate espionage.
Wang, 44, the daughter of business tycoon Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), chairman of the Formosa Group (台塑), is currently abroad and was not available for comment yesterday
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
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