The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted a man on suspicion of stealing NT$1.944 billion (US$59.6 million) in trade secrets from his former employer and contravening the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法).
The man, a 60-year-old surnamed Tsou (鄒), is suspected of having copied and taken possession of 5,681 confidential HCM Co business files on the company’s materials, processes, designs and equipment development, the prosecutors’ office said in a statement on Monday.
Although the indictment covers only the theft of the secrets, prosecutors said that they were worth NT$1.944 billion and caused the company substantial losses, without explaining how they arrived at the figure.
Photo: Yu Jui-jen, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said that Tsou traveled to China with the head of a Chinese company, and they were investigating if and where he might have leaked the information.
HCM is a Taiwan-based lithium battery material supplier specializing in lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) production, a key material used for electric vehicles, the company’s Web site says.
HCM is the first company in the world to mass-produce LMFP and the only cathode material factory that has equipment development capabilities and material research and development capabilities, the Web site says.
Tsou was employed at the company as a project manager in September last year. He tendered his resignation at the beginning of December and agreed to stay until the end of the month, prosecutors said.
However, he overstepped his authority, accessing the confidential files and copying them on to flash drives and hard drives from Dec. 8 to Dec. 26, they said.
HCM only became aware that its secret files had been copied and stored externally after Tsou left the company, and reported the case to prosecutors.
On April 29, prosecutors led the Taoyuan branch of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau in a raid of the suspect’s residence and seized his flash drives and hard drives, prosecutors said.
Tsou was questioned and held in custody, they said.
Prosecutors said that Tsou contravened the Trade Secrets Act and his actions hurt the development and competitiveness of Taiwan’s high-tech industry, adding that they recommended he be given a heavy sentence.
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