The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office has indicted six employees of HTC Corporation, accused of revealing trade secrets, falsifying expenditures, and raking in kickbacks.
Design vice president Thomas Chien has been accused of leaking an interface design for an unreleased HTC smartphone. According to the prosecutors, Chen purportedly showed and discussed the design to potential business partners during a meeting in China in June. Chien, who has been behind bars since August, is linked with HTC's development director Wu Chien-hung. The two is said to have been planning to open smartphone design companies in cooperation with rumored partners backed by the Chinese government.
The two former executives have also been charged with conniving to inflate their expenses report. Utilizing crafted invoices, Chien and Wu planned to take a good chunk from the NT$33.57 million (US$ 1.12 mn) reported expenses. Likewise, three suppliers of HTC were also charged with assisting Chien and Wu to bloat up their expense reports.
"The other four employees who were indicted are HTC senior manager of design and innovation Huang Kuo-ching (黃國清), senior manager of design and innovation Huang Hung-yi (黃弘毅), manufacturing design department manager Hung Chung-yi (洪琮鎰) and Chen Shih-tsou (陳枻佐), a rank-and-file employee," a report on Taipei Times disclosed.
According to reports, the courts will most likely be harsh on Chien who has not confessed to the accusations. The other accused, including the HTC suppliers, might receive a more lenient treatment for showing remorse to their crime.
"The company expects employees to observe and practice the highest levels of integrity and ethics. Protecting the company's proprietary and intellectual properties, privacy and security is a core fundamental responsibility of every employee. The company does not condone any violation," an HTC spokesperson said in a statement.
HTC had filed a complaint against the respondents in August, asking the Taiwanese authorities to investigate the matter. The company found out that Chien, Huang, and Wu registered a company going by the name Xiaoyu that aims to penetrate the potential market in China.
Taiwan's laws punishes crimes of leaking trade secrets by a minimum of one to a maximum of 10 years in prison plus a fine that may range from NT$3 million (US$ 100,000) to NT$50 million (US$ 1.67 mn). If the perpetrators' gains are over NT$ 50 million, then the fine can be as much as 10 times of gains through the illegal acts.
Chien is credited for the design of the HTC One.
