Motorola Sues China's Huawei

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托羅拉(Motorola Inc.)起訴中國電信設備生產商華為技術有限公司﹐稱華為多年參與一項精心策劃的、竊取摩托羅拉最新技術的秘密計劃。


Suit Challenges Huawei's Success

Motorola's lawsuit against Huawei Technologies alleging a plot to steal the U.S. company's trade secrets could complicate years of largely successful efforts by the Chinese telecom-equipment giant to demonstrate itself as an innovator in the industry.

摩托羅拉在提交給伊利諾伊州美國聯邦法院的起訴書中稱﹐過去10年來﹐華為與10多名摩托羅拉員工合謀竊取了其手機網絡設備方面的詳細機密信息。

起 訴書中列出的員工已經不再受雇於摩托羅拉﹐其中包括潘少偉（音）。摩托羅拉稱﹐潘少偉在摩托羅拉工作期間﹐向華為創始人、董事長任正非秘密匯報達數年時 間。位於伊利諾伊州紹姆堡(Schaumburg)的摩托羅拉稱﹐潘少偉之後離開摩托羅拉﹐參與在紹姆堡成立了一家名為Lemko Corp.的公司﹐目的是從摩托羅拉竊取更多的商業秘密。

華為稱摩托羅拉對它的指控毫無根據。

潘少偉的律師們沒有回復記者的置評請求。潘少偉對此前的指控做出回應﹐稱摩托羅拉宣稱他竊取的發明實際上有很多是他自己發明的﹐而且是在他離開摩托羅拉之後發明出來的。

記者暫時無法聯繫到其他被告進行置評。

Lemko公司在提交給法庭的文件中宣稱﹐摩托羅拉對它進行不實指控﹐目的是令其破產﹐並接手它的專利技術﹐其中包括摩托羅拉多年來忽視的一個領域的開發項目。Lemko發言人說﹐不幸的是﹐摩托羅拉繼續用它發起的瑣碎訴訟案數量來定義自己的成功。

摩 托羅拉與通用電氣(General Electric Co.)和西門子(Siemens AG)的首席執行長們抱怨說﹐中國在試圖控制先進技術方面做的太過頭了。今年早些時候﹐谷歌(Google Inc.)稱其電腦系統遭到了源於中國黑客的大規模攻擊﹔中國黑客竊取了其專利電腦程序﹐並試圖攻入人權活動人士的電子郵箱帳戶。

越來越公開的抱怨顯示出﹐高管們對在華的進展和中國公司成為強勁競爭對手感到越來越有挫折感。

華為於1988年由前中國人民解放軍軍官任正非創立。華為使全球電信設備市場發生了巨變﹐利用具有競爭力的價格進入了全球三大供應商之列。

起訴書稱﹐這是一項精心設計的、直接牽涉到華為董事長任正非的秘密計劃。

潘少偉看起來是任正非的主要聯繫人。起訴書中說﹐在法院下令潘少偉於2009年5月底前交出家中電腦里的內容前﹐他試圖用文件破壞軟件將電腦內容毀掉。

據起訴書說﹐不過仍獲得了一些證據﹐幫助瞭解了案情。

據起訴書說﹐2001年潘少偉在北京遇到了任正非。

當時﹐潘少偉是摩托羅拉負責構架的高級工程師。他從1994年開始在摩托羅拉工作。

起訴書中說﹐2002年8月﹐潘少偉向任正非匯報了包括巴西和印度在內的其他市場對摩托羅拉部分最新產品的反應。據起訴書說﹐他還匯報說﹐如果我們的計劃能夠順利進行﹐我們將計劃成立Lemko﹐它將獨立於摩托羅拉。

起訴書說﹐2003年3月﹐潘少偉和摩托羅拉的另外兩位軟件工程師在中國拜訪了華為的高管﹐包括公司負責無線通訊的副總裁侯金龍和任正非。

根據起訴書中聲稱摩托羅拉發現的一份電子郵件﹐2003年3月初潘少偉從中國回到美國後﹐在華為的要求下﹐潘少偉很快通過他的個人電子郵件帳戶﹐將關於摩托羅拉基站的專利信息傳給華為高層人士。基站是摩托羅拉用於“無縫移動”技術的關鍵設備。

在被發現的潘少偉寫給侯金龍的電子郵件中﹐潘少偉寫道﹐隨附你想要的關於SC300 (CDMA 2000 1X)規格的文件﹐他指的就是基站。起訴書中說﹐侯金龍承認收到了這封電子郵件。

根據起訴書﹐發送給華為管理層的基站規格是在潘少偉電腦的一封電子郵件里發現的﹐文件每頁都標有“摩托羅拉保密資產”。

起訴書稱﹐華為知道展示給其管理層看的技術是“摩托羅拉全職員工提供的竊取來的摩托羅拉商業機密和保密信息。”

根據起訴書﹐Lemko和華為正在出售基於盜用技術的設備。

該起訴書是摩托羅拉在兩年的法律糾紛中第一次提及華為。

摩托羅拉已以同樣罪名起訴同一批雇員和Lemko﹐該案還沒有解決。

摩托羅拉在起訴書中指控了一位被告金韓娟（音）。根據起訴書﹐她於1998年作為一名軟件工程師開始為摩托羅拉工作﹐並於2004年左右同時為Lemko工作。在此期間﹐她不斷接入摩托羅拉受保護的電腦﹐將機密信息傳到她的個人電子郵件帳戶。

根據起訴書﹐2007年2月金韓娟企圖登上從芝加哥到北京的單程飛機﹐但被美國海關官員截住。

根據起訴書﹐美國海關官員發現她拿著30,000美元現金﹐以及涉及摩托羅拉商業機密的1,000多份紙質和電子文件。

摩托羅拉週一宣佈﹐已決定將處於爭議中的多數業務﹐即其無線網絡部門以12億美元出售給諾基亞西門子通信公司（Nokia Siemens Networks）。

熟悉情況的一位人士說﹐華為一直在負責運營摩托羅拉的網絡業務﹐摩托羅拉曾承諾﹐如果有可能將網絡業務出售給華為﹐就不再繼續起訴該商業機密案。

這位熟悉情況的人說﹐諾基亞西門子通信公司成為競購中的贏家後﹐摩托羅拉繼續推進針對華為的起訴。

摩托羅拉正在查找損失並尋求找回商業機密。摩托羅拉一位女言人說﹐摩托羅拉將繼續努力保護自己的知識產權。

華為近些年通過迫使競爭對手降低價格而將電訊業進行了重新洗牌﹐目前其已躋身世界三大電訊設備供應商之一。

在不斷在價格方面擊敗競爭對手之外﹐華為還是長期演進項目（Long Term Evolution）主要設備供應商之一。長期演進項目是一種無線標準﹐其速度比舊網絡更快。華為甚至在歐洲競爭對手的本土市場獲取了合同。

這不是華為第一次被美國公司起訴盜竊商業機密罪。

2003年思科系統（Cisco Systems）起訴華為竊取其路由器代碼﹐但在華為決定將其路由器產品撤出市場並進行更改後﹐思科系統撤訴。

2004年在芝加哥舉行的貿易展上﹐一位華為雇員一連幾個小時拍攝競爭產品的照片﹐被抓了現行﹐華為後來解雇了這名雇員。

Christopher Rhoads

Motorola Inc. has sued Huawei Technologies Co., alleging the Chinese telecom equipment maker engaged in an elaborate plot over a number of years to steal its latest technology.

In a complaint filed in U.S. federal court in Illinois, Motorola claims Huawei worked with more than a dozen of its employees during the last decade to secure detailed confidential information about its cellular network equipment.

The employees named in the suit are no longer employed by Motorola. They include Shaowei Pan, who Motorola claims secretly reported to Huawei's founder and chairman, Ren Zhengfei, for years while he worked at the Shaumburg, Ill., company. Motorola claims Mr. Pan then left to help set up a company in Schaumburg called Lemko Corp. with the purpose of stealing more secrets from Motorola.

Huawei called the complaint 'utterly without merit.'

Mr. Pan's lawyers didn't respond to requests for comment. He has responded to earlier complaints, arguing that he, in fact, created a number of the inventions Motorola alleges he stole, and that he created them after leaving the company.

Other defendants couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Lemko has claimed in court filings that Motorola has falsely attacked it in an attempt to put it out of business and take over its proprietary technology, which involves developments in a field Motorola overlooked for years. 'It is unfortunate that Motorola continues to define its success by the number of frivolous lawsuits it commences,' a Lemko spokesman said.

Motorola joins the chief executives of General Electric Co. and Siemens AG in raising complaints that China has been too aggressive in trying to get hold of advanced technology. Earlier this year, Google Inc. claimed its computer systems had suffered a massive attack traced to Chinese hackers, who stole proprietary computer code and tried to break into email accounts of human-rights activists.

The increasingly public complaints show executives' growing frustration with their progress in China and with the emergence of Chinese companies as potent competitors.

Huawei, founded in 1988 by Mr. Ren, a former officer in China's People's Liberation Army, has shaken up the global market for telecom equipment, using aggressive pricing to fight its way into the ranks of the Top 3 suppliers world-wide.

The complaint alleges there was an elaborate scheme directly involving Huawei's chairman, Mr. Ren.

Mr. Pan, who appeared to be the primary contact for Mr. Ren, attempted to destroy the contents of his home computers with file-destruction software before he was ordered by the court to hand them over by the end of May 2009, according to the complaint.

But some evidence was nevertheless retained that helped to detail the operation, according to the complaint.

Mr. Pan met with Mr. Ren in Beijing in 2001, according to the complaint.
At the time, Mr. Pan was a senior engineer responsible for architecture at Motorola, where he had worked since 1994.

In August 2002, Mr. Pan reported to Mr. Ren about the response in other markets, including Brazil and India, to some of the latest Motorola products, according to the complaint. According to the complaint, he also reported, 'If our plan can progress smoothly, Lemko will be the company we are planning to establish, and it will be independent of Motorola Inc.'

In March 2003, Mr. Pan, along with two Motorola software engineers, visited with Huawei executives in China, including the company's vice president of wireless communications, JinLong Hou and Mr. Ren, according to the complaint.

Immediately after his return to the U.S. from the China trip in early March 2003, Mr. Pan, at Huawei's request, transferred proprietary information to the Huawei executives about a Motorola base station -- a critical piece of equipment used in Motorola's 'seamless mobility' initiative -- using his personal email account, according to an email the complaint claims Motorola recovered.

'Attached please find those document about SC300 (CDMA 2000 1X) specification you asked,' wrote Mr. Pan in the recovered email to Mr. Hou, referring to the base station. Mr. Hou acknowledged receipt of the email, according to the complaint.

The specifications about the base station sent to the Huawei executive, with each page marked 'Motorola Confidential Property, were found in an email on Mr. Pan's computer, according to the complaint.

Huawei knew that the technology shown to its executives was 'derived from misappropriated Motorola trade secrets and confidential information by full-time Motorola employees,' the complaint said.

Lemko and Huawei are now selling equipment based on that stolen technology, according to the complaint.

The filing was the first time Motorola has named Huawei in the two-year-old legal proceedings.

Motorola has sued the same group of employees and Lemko on the same charges, and the case hasn't been settled.

Motorola alleged in the complaint that one defendant, Hanjuan Jin, who went to work for Motorola as a software engineer in 1998, began working simultaneously for Lemko around 2004. She continued to access Motorola's protected computers during this time, transferring confidential information to her personal email account, according to the complaint.

In February 2007, Ms. Jin was attempting to board a one-way flight to Beijing from Chicago when she was stopped by U.S. Customs officials, according to the complaint.

They found she was carrying $30,000 in cash and more than 1,000 paper and electronic documents concerning Motorola trade secrets, according to the complaint.

Motorola announced Monday that it had agreed to sell most of the business at issue -- its wireless networks unit -- to Nokia Siemens Networks for $1.2 billion.

Huawei had been in the running for Motorola's networks business, and the U.S. company had promised not to proceed with the trade secrets case as long as a sale to the Chinese company was possible, a person familiar with the matter said.

When Nokia Siemens emerged as the winner, Motorola proceeded with the legal case against Huawei, the person familiar said.

Motorola is seeking damages and the return of its trade secrets. 'Motorola will continue to vigorously protect its intellectual property,' a Motorola spokeswoman said.

Huawei has reshaped the telecommunications industry in recent years by forcing competitors to lower prices and risen to become one of the top three telecommunications equipment vendors in the world.

In addition to continuing to beat competitors on price, Huawei is one of the leading vendors of equipment for Long Term Evolution, or LTE, a wireless standard that allows higher traffic speeds than older networks. It has snapped up contracts even in the home markets of its European competitors.

This isn't the first time Huawei has been accused of stealing trade secrets from a U.S. company.

In 2003, Cisco Systems Inc. alleged the company stole its router code, but it dropped the suit after Huawei agreed to remove its router products from the market and change them.

At a trade show in Chicago in 2004, a Huawei employee was caught after hours taking pictures of competing products. Huawei subsequently fired the employee.

Christopher Rhoads