Motorola Solutions ups patent fight with Chinese company
Motorola Solutions Inc. said Tuesday it has strengthened its legal battle against a Chinese company for allegedly stealing its patented technology for two-way radios.
Motorola filed the most recent patent infringement case with the Regional Court of Düsseldorf, Germany, against Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. of Shenzhen, China, and Hytera Mobilfunk GmbH of Bad Munder, Germany.
The complaint charges Hytera with stealing Motorola's patented technology and stealing trade secrets for its famous two-way radios and other equipment.
"The actions announced today are specifically about preventing Hytera from offering and delivering products with the pseudo-trunking feature in Germany," said Motorola spokeswoman Aura Reinhard. Pseudo thunking refers to how a radio system can increase capacity by upgrading certain other features.
Hytera said it was disappointed that Motorola Solutions has chosen to bring lawsuits against Hytera rather than compete in the marketplace. "We are ready to respond vigorously to Motorola Solutions' allegations, and are fully confident that Hytera will be vindicated," according to its statement on the Hytera website.
Last month, Motorola Solutions filed other cases against Hytera. One was a patent infringement complaint filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Others were patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. Motorola Solutions has more than 4,000 U.S. patents, including the patents at issue in these cases.
The suits alleged that Hytera, which also has offices in Florida and California, infringed on patents owned by Motorola Solutions and used Motorola's trade secrets after luring away three Motorola employees.
"After an internal investigation, we learned that this wasn't accidental," Motorola Solution General Counsel Mark Hacker told the Daily Herald last month. "In fact, it was an intentional scheme that Hytera deployed to steal our technology and claim it as its own."
The lawsuits said the three Motorola senior engineers were hired in 2008 by Hytera and currently hold senior positions there. They are Gee Siong Kok, who formerly served as senior engineering manager at Motorola, and now serves as senior vice president and terminal chief; Samuel Chia, who formerly served as senior engineer and engineering section manager at Motorola, and now serves as the director of software engineering; and Yih Tzye Kok, who formerly served as a senior engineer at Motorola, now serving as sales director, according to court documents.
Motorola Solutions's headquarters was based in Schaumburg at the time of the alleged theft. The company has since moved its headquarters to Chicago, but retains offices in Schaumburg. The three employees mentioned in the lawsuits worked in Malaysia but reported to executives in Schaumburg at that time.
Motorola Solutions has not taken any action directly against the three former employees.