Former Employee Stole Ford Secrets Worth $50 Million 236
chicksdaddy writes "A ten year veteran of US automaker Ford pleaded guilty in federal court on November 17 to charges that he stole company secrets, including design documents, valued at between $50 million and $100 million, and shared them with his new employer: the Chinese division of a US rival of Ford's. Xiang Dong ('Mike') Yu admitted to copying some 4,000 Ford Documents to an external hard drive, including design specifications for key components of Ford automobiles, after surreptitiously taking a job with a China-based competitor in 2006. Yu, who took a job for Beijing Automotive Company in 2008, was arrested during a stopover at Chicago in October, 2009. The FBI seized his Beijing Automotive-issued laptop, and an analysis found 41 stolen Ford specification documents on the hard drive. He faces five to six years in prison and a $150,000 fine (PDF)."
Re:Wake up, people. (Score:5, Informative)
Good. And before we judge if that seems too harsh a punishment, I would ask if anyone knows what the Chinese government would do to an American engineer who did the same thing to a Chinese company.
8 years
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/07/04/chinese-court-sentences-geologist-tortured-state-security-agents-years-jail-1624851947/ [foxnews.com]
Re:Does this mean all the Chinese cars are going t (Score:3, Informative)
or V6 engines that die prematurely due to head gasket failure?
Re:Wake up, people. (Score:3, Informative)
I would ask if anyone knows what the Chinese government would do to an American engineer who did the same thing to a Chinese company.
FTFS - "Chinese division of a US rival of Ford's."
Sounds like american companies doing it to each other, to me.
Re:Why (Score:3, Informative)
> It's not theft. It's breach of trust.
According to the press release (also linked above), it's theft of trade secrets:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/mie/press/2010/2010-11-17_xyu.pdf [justice.gov]
I assume it's also a breach of his employment contract. (Which would be relevant to a civil case by Ford against him.)
Re:Does this mean all the Chinese cars are going t (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Wake up, people. (Score:4, Informative)
"Chinese division of a US rival of Ford's."
Sounds like american companies doing it to each other, to me.
All the manufacturing companies in China must be majority owned by a local Chinese company which is owned by Chinese citizens. So it may be a joint venture partnership "division" of a US rival who owns a large chunk, but no, it is not just two US companies involved.
Re:Why (Score:5, Informative)
When trade secrets are involved it's called theft, not copyright infringement.
"Theft" is when the original owner is deprived by the action. In this case, the trade secrets were stolen, because the original owner was deprived of the secret (as its not secret any more).
Re:Why (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Does this mean all the Chinese cars are going t (Score:3, Informative)
When the head gasket failure results in large quantities of coolant going into the oil followed by rapid failure of the main bearings, [f150online.com] yes. You will see from the linked page that the repair bills from these failed head gaskets could be up to $4000. It was a common problem on Ford V6s built during the '90s.
Re:In short.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wake up, people. (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe not american, still accusation is theft of state secrets: 10 years prison.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/rio-tintos-stern-hu-jailed-10-years/story-e6frg9df-1225847088979 [theaustralian.com.au]
Re:Wake up, people. (Score:2, Informative)
I have reason to believe (Score:3, Informative)
That Ford and its competitors have stolen significantly more information than that from independent inventors, small firms, employees, etc. Call it stealing or not, but making millions-billions on others work is immoral and stealing in my book, even if you make them sign something to let you.
Re:Was this an H1-B employee by any chance? (Score:3, Informative)
Wow, put away your xenophobia for 5 minutes to RTFA. He was a naturalized US Citizen who completed his doctorate at UChicago.