Chinese Court Sentences Executives for Trade Secret Infringement

China News Service reported that a court convicted a new energy technology company and two defendants, surnamed Li and Zou, of trade secret infringement following a public prosecution by the Xiangcheng District People's Procuratorate in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. The court imposed a fine on the company, sentenced Li to three years and three months in prison alongside a fine, and sentenced Zou to two years in prison alongside a fine. Li filed an appeal, leaving the case under further judicial proceedings. Investigators established that Li, an actual controller of the new energy company and a former sales employee at a provincial high-tech enterprise, approached Zou in October 2022 to obtain internal software and confidential drawings. Li subsequently hired Zou as technical department manager and recruited additional technical personnel, instructing incoming staff to bring technical drawings from the victim enterprise as a condition of employment. Appraisal findings confirmed that four technical secrets matched or were substantially identical to the victim firm's information alongside an initially cited purification calculation software, raising the total recognized secret points from 1 to 5. On December 27, 2024, the Xiangcheng District People's Procuratorate initiated public prosecutions against the new energy company, Li, and Zou for trade secret infringement. The procuratorate later filed separate public prosecutions against two other individuals, identified as Cheng and Shen, whose cases remain under trial while additional involved personnel undergo review for prosecution.