Motorola urges court to rap Hytera over missed payments
Tech giant asks court to sanction Chinese firm for failure to pay royalties | Defendant accused of ‘wilful violation’ of court order | Dispute concerns two-way radio technology.
Motorola Solutions has asked an Illinois court to sanction Chinese-based Hytera for failing to make the first payment of a judgment, alleging that Hytera had "established a repeated, immensely troubling pattern of violating this court’s recent orders”.
Motorola’s motion, which asks the court to hold communication technology firm Hytera in contempt, was filed on Wednesday, August 3 at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Hytera and Motorola have been embroiled in a trade secrets dispute since 2017, when Motorola accused Hytera of intentionally infringing Motorola’s IP and misappropriating its trade secrets. This enabled Hytera to “compete unfairly by bypassing investment in innovation”.
The suit claimed that 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.
Trade secrets stolen
In March 2020, the Illinois court approved the verdict, awarding $765 million in damages after a jury found that Hytera had stolen its radio trade secrets.
However, this amount was subsequently reduced to $543.7 million in January 2021. The court additionally awarded $51 million in pre-judgment interest.
While the Illinois court denied Motorola’s bid for an injunction in late December last year, the court concluded that a perpetual royalty should be paid of $80.32 per radio, and $378.16 per repeater.
But, according to Motorola, Hytera failed to make the required payment of royalties (based on Hytera’s radio sales from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022) into an escrow account by July 31, 2022.
“Hytera made no such payment and has confirmed it has no intention to do so,” warned Motorola’s motion. “Motorola’s repeatedly expressed concerns that Hytera would never pay any of what the court orders it to, despite having $1 billion in publicly reported net assets, have now come to fruition.”
Motorola added: “Hytera’s wilful violation of this court’s orders mandates a finding of contempt and imposition of harsh contempt sanctions.”
Motorola has asked the court to enjoin Hytera from selling any two-way radio equipment worldwide, until all of Hytera’s past due royalties are fully paid into escrow.
The court has also been asked to order Hytera to pay an additional penalty and have its assets in the US sequestered and seized.
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