Top Designers at HTC arrested for fraud, stealing trade secrets
Charges of fraudulent expenses and stealing trade secrets were levied against top designers at HTC. A total of five people were interrogated including Vice President of Product Design, Thomas Chien, R&D director and design team senior manager, Wu Chien Hung, and the person who sketched out the HTC One’s design, Justin Huang.
Chien and WU are in custody although the others were released on bail. Their offices were also raided as part of the investigation.
Cher Wang, HTC’s Chairwoman, filed a complaint against the team. The team had just resigned and had taken their mid-year bonuses. They were attempting to start their own design firm, named “Xiaoyu,” and were attempting to charge HTC $334,000 in commission for designing the HTC One.
However, the HTC One was designed in-house at HTC and not by “Xiaoyu” as a separate company. Thomas Chien is said to have downloaded files for HTC’s Sense 6 UI, their proprietary Android Launcher, and distributed the files via email.
HTC has not said much, but they did release a small statement:
“The matter is under investigation by relevant authorities. We therefore refrain from further comments.”
They also then told Engadget the following statement:
“The company expects employees to observe and practice the highest levels of integrity and ethics. Protecting the company’s proprietary and intellectual properties, privacy and security is a core fundamental responsibility of every employee. The company does not condone any violation. As this matter is currently under investigation by the relevant authorities, we therefore refrain from further comments.”
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC2KRvx20FM#t=61
This shouldn’t stop HTC from producing any products or moving forward. In contrast, “Xiaoyu” will most likely be blacklisted and their design team will have a hard time finding employment if the allegations are found to be true. This scandal is truly a shame as the HTC One is a beautiful device and still one of the best on the market today.
Source: Engadget
