Fourteen people have been charged with stealing classified information from their former employer, Apple supplier Catcher Technology Co, to pass on to their new employer in China, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said on Friday.
The 14 people are suspected of contravening the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法) and the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), prosecutors said.
They were charged with offenses related to breaching the trust of their former employer and leaking business secrets, prosecutors said.
Photo: Chien Li-chung, Taipei Times
Catcher, a manufacturer of metal casings for computers and smartphones, is one of the main suppliers of such products to Apple Inc and has the highest share in the domestic metal casing market.
Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊精密), a Chinese firm, is suspected of poaching talent from the Taiwanese company’s research and development (R&D) team based in China, prosecutors said.
Luxshare might have sought to enter the market quickly to secure orders from Apple, they said.
Luxshare offered the 14-member team, led by a management-level employee surnamed Cheng (鄭), increased salaries, relocation bonuses and management-level positions for helping introduce its products to the market, prosecutors said.
Before Cheng and the rest of the team left Catcher for Luxshare, they stole large amounts of R&D and management secrets, prosecutors said.
The team used the stolen information to help Luxshare expedite the establishment of manufacturing facilities and product lines to mass-produce metal casings for iPhones and iPads, causing significant financial harm to Catcher, prosecutors said.
The New Taipei City office proved corporate espionage after cross-referencing onsite observations of Catcher’s standard operating procedures and analyzing data from the team with the help of digital and cybersecurity professionals at the High Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, they said.
The investigation and collection of evidence took one-and-a-half years, prosecutors said, adding that they also executed four searches, froze the suspects’ bank accounts, and interrogated witnesses and suspects.
The investigation officially concluded on Friday, with Cheng and 13 alleged coconspirators charged.
Catcher said in a statement that it would pursue legal action against the 14 people, and reinforce its protocols to safeguard trade secrets and intellectual property.
Catcher said it would cooperate with the judicial proceedings.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS