Philips Medical Company’s Confidential Information Stolen, Two Chinese Companies and Others Charged in the U.S.

A federal court in the United States has released a indictment showing that two Chinese (CCP) companies conspired with a former employee of Philips Medical Systems operating a factory in Illinois to illegally possess Philips’ trade secrets.

The Northern District of Illinois U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release on Thursday (February 13th) that according to the indictment issued by a federal court in Chicago, the two Chinese companies recruited three engineers from their competitor, Philips Medical Systems, to steal proprietary X-ray technology developed by Philips over several years.

Kunshan Guoli Electronic Technology Co. Ltd, based in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China, along with the company’s vice president, 63-year-old Xiaoqin Du, assisted in establishing a X-ray tube development company headquartered in Aurora, Illinois, to compete with Philips’ factory in the city.

In 2017, Kunshan Guoli and Xiaoqin Du hired three engineers from Philips’ Aurora factory, namely 69-year-old Chih-Yee Jen, 56-year-old Fince Tendian, and 76-year-old Vladimir Nevetonenko.

The indictment alleges that before leaving Philips, Jen copied the company’s X-ray trade secrets from its internal database without authorization. Jen is accused of stealing these patent information on behalf of Kunshan Guoli and Xiaoqin Du. Jen used the stolen information in his work developing X-ray tubes for Kunshan Guoli and a related Chinese company, Kunshan Yiyuan Medical Technology Co. Ltd. Jen also shared this stolen information with Tendian and Nevetonenko, who also used the information in their work.

The indictment charges that these two Chinese companies and four individuals conspired to unlawfully possess trade secrets. Jen is also charged with one count of possessing or attempting to possess stolen trade secrets.

During their summons at the federal court in Chicago, Jen, Tendian, and Nevetonenko all pleaded not guilty.

According to the press release, summonses for the two Chinese companies have not been arranged yet, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Xiaoqin Du.