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.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS