Criminal conspiracy trial against Hytera delayed, possibly until the fall

A criminal case against Hytera Communications for an alleged conspiracy to steal Motorola Solutions’ DMR trade secrets will not begin next month as originally planned, and may not be scheduled to start until at least the fall, if a federal judge grants the latest motion filed by Hytera.

A U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) attorney last month asked federal district-court Judge John Tharp—in a motion that was not opposed by Hytera Communications’ legal counsel—for a new date to begin the criminal trial, which had been scheduled to start during the first week of February. In a filing with the court, the DoJ attorney cited the need for additional time for the government to identify and disclose experts expected to rebut “up to 4 or 5 experts” that Hytera was scheduled to disclose this month.

In addition, the DoJ motion for additional time noted that “there was likely to be significant litigation leading into the trial related to the government’s disclosed expert witness and the not-yet-disclosed defense experts.”

Judge Tharp previously has indicated that he expects the criminal trial against Hytera—a China-based land-mobile-radio (LMR) manufacturer—to last between one and two month when it is conducted.

Last week, Hytera filed a motion asking Judge Tharp that—in light of the February date for the start of the trial being struck—the trial begin no earlier than Sept. 30, in large part because the lead attorney representing Hytera is scheduled to participate in another “complex” trial that is scheduled to begin in July and last multiple weeks.

Judge Tharp quickly responded to the Hytera, last week declaring that he is taking “under advisement” the LMR manufacturer’s request for a trial that begins on Sept. 30 or later. In addition, Judge Tharp scheduled an in-court hearing about the case for Feb. 2.

At issue in the trial is the DoJ’s May 2021 criminal indictment—one that was not disclosed publicly until February 2022—of Hytera Communications regarding an alleged conspiracy between the company and seven former employees to steal DMR trade secrets from Motorola Solutions. Motorola Solutions and Hytera Communications have been engaged in civil litigations since March 2017 that have been based on similar allegations.

As part of the Hytera criminal-conspiracy case, the DoJ also indicted seven individuals who were employed by Hytera Communications in 2008 immediately after working in the Malaysia facility for Motorola (the company had not yet been renamed Motorola Solutions). All seven individuals have been charged with coordinating and executing the theft of thousands of Motorola documents and providing them to Hytera, which was struggling to build DMR products at the time, according to court documents.

In November 2022, Gee Siong (G.S.) Kok—Hytera Communications’ former director of research and development, as well as former member of the company’s board of director—pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiring to steal trade secrets.

G.S. Kok’s plea agreement claims that took these criminal actions at the behest of a top Hytera executive. This “Executive 1” is not identified in the plea agreement, but it is believed to be Hytera Communications Chairman and founder Qingzhou Chen, based on information in other legal documents.

Hytera Communications issued a statement that the company “vigorously disputes that its executives knew of or were involved in any theft of trade secrets from Motorola Solutions, and Hytera is not aware of Hytera executive having been charged with stealing Motorola’s trade secret—only former Motorola employees such as G.S. Kok.”

G.S. Kok was extradited to the U.S. in the fall of 2022.

Six other former Hytera employees—Yih Tzye (YT) Kok, Samuel Chia Han Siong (Chia), Phaik ee Ooi (Ooi), Wong Kiat Hoe (Wong), Yu Kok Hoong (Hoong) and Chua Siew Wei (Chua)—also were charged in the DoJ’s indictment for participating in the alleged conspiracy.