Hytera criminal-conspiracy trial set to begin in February 2024

A criminal trial examining allegations that Hytera Communications conspired to steal DMR trade secrets from Motorola is scheduled to begin on Feb. 5, 2024, and is estimated to last as much as eight weeks, according to information shared yesterday during a status hearing about this case.

Federal District Court Judge John Tharp set the start date for the trial that stems from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) criminal indictment of Hytera Communications on charges that China-based land-mobile-radio (LMR) manufacturer conspired to steal trade secrets from Motorola in order to develop its own DMR products.

Attorneys representing Hytera and the DoJ agreed that the Feb. 5, 2024, start date would be appropriate. After hearing input from both entities’ attorneys during the status hearing, Tharp said participants should be prepared for the trial to extend through the end of March 2024. Tharp emphasized that he would avoid changing the trial date, if at all possible, given the complexity and length of the trial.

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.

Last month, 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.

As of last month, none of the other individuals charged in the case– 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)—had been extradited to the U.S., according to information provided to IWCE’s Urgent Communications. Court documents reveal that each of these six people were designated in October as “fugitives” by the U.S. legal system.

These criminal cases against Hytera and the seven individuals are separate from the myriad civil cases that have been filed by Motorola Solutions against Hytera Communications, although the allegations are similar and considerable amounts of evidence are expected to be used in both the civil and criminal proceedings.

In a March 2020 judgment, a federal district judge affirmed a unanimous jury finding that China-based Hytera Communications should pay $764.6 million for its use of DMR trade secrets and copyrighted software developed by Motorola, prior to the LMR giant being renamed Motorola Solutions. In January 2021, this initial award amount was reduced to $543.7 million.

Since then, the district court has ordered Hytera to pay Motorola Solutions for a variety of items, including attorney fees, interest payments and royalties for selling DMR products since July 2019. Combined with the primary award, Hytera owes Motorola Solutions more than $670 million, according to a statement made by Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown last February.