“Huawei Targeted in U.S. Criminal Probe for Alleged Theft of Trade Secrets,” The Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2019. Did they steal technology from their partners involving a robot named Tappy?
When does hijacking your partner’s technology cross the line from a civil action to a criminal one?
- Governance: What’s the government’s role in this? Is this primarily political? Did the US companies have adequate controls in place?
- Information: how your partner does something may be a trade secret. Did they take sufficient steps to protect it?
- Compliance: Do you employees know not to steal information from your business partners or use it outside the bounds of your contracts?