MediaTek engineer brings technology to Qualcomm and is sentenced

As reported, an engineer of MediaTek jumped to Qualcomm with MTK’s business secret documents and been discovered when he left MTK, the engineer wanted to pay a compensation for NT$1 million, it was rejected by MTK. The court sentenced the engineer to 50 days of detention on the basis of “unauthorized reconsideration of business secrets” and fined him NT$50,000 and suspended for 2 years.

The defendant’s engineer entered MediaTek in 2010 and entered the Multimedia Research and Development Department in 2015. In 2016, he was made an interview with Qualcomm for Job-hoping, the engineer decided to improve the acceptance rate, he downloaded a large amount of confidential data from the inside to the interview for briefings, including the latest dual-camera technology and chip design at the time, and then he had been hired.

However, before leaving the company, the engineer was discovered during the audit, and there was a lot of traces of downloaded company data been found in his laptop, which were copied from the datacenter to the external hard disk, and then to the private laptop. He compiled the new dual-camera technology, chip design, and related algorithms source code, mobile phone software source code, etc., into a total of 134 PPTs and named it "AF technology briefing document."

On January 22, 2016, during the interview with Qualcomm, the engineer personally gave a briefing to Qualcomm and received the offer.

After MediaTek reported the case, nearly 400 sets of documents were seized from its laptops. The final investigation revealed that it involved nearly 100 MediaTek intellectual property rights. The director of the Legal Affairs Department of MediaTek, said that the confidentiality of the leaked "worth 100 million NT$" and said "We will appeal."

The data in the laptop also includes Qualcomm’s employment contract. The incriminating evidence is conclusive. The defendant tried to settle the dispute with MediaTek but was rejected. The judgment of the court stated that the content of the duties held by the defendant during the period of serving MediaTek was of high economic value and should be subject to the obligation of confidentiality. However, during the trial, the defendant had admitted that he had committed a crime and was deeply regretted. There was no way that the settlement could not be fully attributed to the defendant. It was sentenced to probation.

However, the public prosecutor said that the business secrets stolen by the defendant would cause MediaTek to lose its market niche and its competitiveness, and should not only sentence a suspended sentence. MTK’s lawyers replying, “The company discipline needs to be maintained and does not agree to a suspended sentence.”