Five departing HTC employees including top members of the company’s design team were arrested this past weekend on accusations that the group stole trade secrets. According to China Times, five people including vice president of product design Thomas Chien, research and development director Wu Chien Hung and senior design team manager Justin Huang were taken into custody and interrogated this past weekend after HTC chairwoman Cher Wang filed a complaint with authorities in Taiwan. The group, which was leaving the company to start its own mobile design firm, is accused of downloading internal files pertaining to unreleased HTC software set to be unveiled on the upcoming HTC One Max and then sharing them with people outside the company. Several of the people in question have also accused been accused of falsifying claims regarding commission fees. HTC’s full statement on the matter follows below.
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 compromise nor condone any violation at any level of our organization and the company shall act in accordance to the law. As this matter is currently under investigation by the relevant authorities, we therefore refrain from further comments.
In addition, the company has sufficient resources in our design team and this situation will not impact the company’s operations, product portfolio plans and our overall business performance.
