The Taichung District Court yesterday found a businessman guilty of stealing proprietary technology and selling it to China, handing him an 18-month prison sentence and a NT$2 million (US$63,436) fine.
Chen Shih-yu (陳世彧) was convicted on two counts of contravening the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法) for the theft of proprietary technology from local firms, which he sold to Chengdu Trailblazer Technology Co (成都領航科技), based in China’s Sichuan Province.
The court said that investigators had uncovered evidence of Chen’s illegal activities, which began when he was general manager and then special assistant to the president of Taichung-based A-Lumen Machine Co from 2010 to 2012.
He reportedly held the top jobs because he is a relative of A-Lumen owner Lu Chun-lin (呂俊麟).
Chen handled the firm’s contracts for optical film and coating equipment with Chengdu Trailblazer and in 2012 began doing business with its owner, a man surnamed Liang (梁), the court said.
In 2013, Chen left A-Lumen and established his own company, Wellsun International Co (昱盛國際企業), it said.
Investigators found that Liang enlisted Chen to help him get into the production of smart glass, for which they set their sights on technology from BenQ Materials Corp, the court said, adding that Chen conducted secret negotiations with a key BenQ engineer surnamed Huang (黃).
Liang and Chen persuaded Huang to travel to China on weekends and holidays to teach Chengdu Trailblazer staff how to make smart glass, which Huang was not authorized to do, as it was restricted proprietary technology, it said.
Chen also secretly obtained data on A-Lumen’s UV optical film forming machine, which his and Liang’s companies were interested in, the court said.
Liang in 2012 started purchasing the machine from A-Lumen, with Chen handling the contracts as general manager, it said.
Investigators found that Chen, without authorization from A-Lumen, later gave the schematics to local contract manufacturer Ding Teng Machinery Co to produce the machines, which he planned to sell through Wellsun in cooperation with Liang in China, the court said.
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