Four former employees of Hsinchu-based Novatek Microelectronics Corp have been charged with leaking trade secrets to a rival Chinese firm, the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office said on Monday.
Prosecutor Su Heng-yi (蘇恆毅) led an investigation into suspected trade secret leaks and his team last year arrested the four former Novatek engineers, who were allegedly involved in the leaks that occurred starting in 2016, the office said in a statement.
Su charged the four former employees with breaching the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法), and secured the approval of the Hsinchu District Court to seize their cash and property as potential future compensation.
Prosecutors said that the case originated when a former Novatek engineer surnamed Tseng (曾) was poached by a Shanghai-based company.
The Chinese company promised to double the wages Tseng received from Novatek and appoint him as a president of the company as long as he handed over Novatek’s trade secrets, prosecutors said.
While Tseng was still on Novatek’s payroll, he stole his employer’s confidential information on OLED display driver ICs and virtual reality research and development, they said.
After Tseng left Novatek, he helped the Shanghai company approach three other Novatek engineers to switch to the Chinese firm and leak information, they added.
The four traveled back and forth between China and Taiwan, working for the Chinese firm, and after their whereabouts were ascertained they were arrested in Taiwan, prosecutors said.
Tseng had set up a company in the Tai Yuen Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Hsinchu in the name of his spouse, from where the three engineers leaked the information to the Chinese firm, they said.
Novatek on Monday said that the trade secret leaks did not have any impact on its operations, as it reported the case to police soon after the wrongdoing was discovered and informed all of its clients that could be affected.
Novatek focuses on OLED display driver IC development and is ahead of its peers in that particular technology, analysts said.
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