Motorola slaps Hytera with patent and trade secrets claim
Communications company Motorola Solutions has brought a patent infringement and trade secrets lawsuit against China-based Hytera Communications.
Filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois yesterday, March 14, the claim alleged that Hytera has intentionally infringed Motorola’s IP and misappropriated its trade secrets, which has enabled Hytera to “compete unfairly by bypassing investment in innovation”.
Motorola said that Hytera’s two-way radios, base stations, repeaters and dispatch systems had infringed Motorola’s patents.
The patents concerned are US numbers 8,116,284; 8,032,169; 7,369,869; 7,729,701; 8,279,991; 9,099,972; 6,591,111. They all relate to radio technology.
According to the claim, Hytera has also used stolen Motorola trade secrets.
“Hytera’s investment was not in research and development, but in personnel—namely, Motorola’s personnel who had substantial access to Motorola’s proprietary technologies and who downloaded thousands of confidential technical documents in the weeks prior to their departures,” said the suit.
The suit claimed that in order to break into the digital two-way radio market, Hytera “lured away several Motorola senior radio engineers” who were familiar with Motorola’s technologies and IP.
“The engineers hired by Hytera—and by extension, Hytera itself—intentionally hid their wrongful conduct from Motorola, to ensure it would not be discovered until years later,” added the claim.
According to Motorola, in the period leading up to their resignations, the engineers downloaded and transferred more than 7,000 highly confidential files related to Motorola’s technologies.
Motorola is seeking a jury trial, injunctive relief, damages including lost profits as a result of the infringement, triple damages and further relief as the court deems appropriate.
Mark Hacker, general counsel and chief administrative officer of Motorola Solutions, said: “We believe it is clear, and we are confident the courts will agree, that Hytera’s product portfolio and marketing materials are based on Motorola Solutions’ proprietary IP.”
He added that “brazen copying and blatant, wilful infringement” creates an unfair playing field and threatens the industry’s ability to innovate.
A spokesperson for Hytera said that the company was aware of the complaint, but that its policy is not to comment on cases that are presently before a court.
“As a global company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Hytera upholds a high ethical standard for business and strictly complies with the laws and the regulations in the markets where we operate,” said the spokesperson.
He added: “Hytera firmly believes that its business practices and operations will be fully vindicated.”
In a statement released yesterday, March 22, Hytera said it was disappointed that Motorola had chosen to bring a lawsuit against it “rather than compete in the marketplace”.
“We are ready to respond vigorously to Motorola’s allegations, and are fully confident that Hytera will be vindicated in the US federal court,” said the statement.
It added that by choosing the courtroom over the marketplace, Motorola is “attempting to use its size and market position to intimidate and prevent other radio communications companies like Hytera from achieving the same level of success in the US that it currently has around the world”.
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