Have you ever wondered how staff from one company can simply move to another, without revealing any trade secrets, especially when they work in a technical or engineering capacity? Isn’t that why they were hired in the first place?
Some transitions don’t happen so well, as a former General Motors engineer and her husband were recently charged with conspiring to steal trade secrets in relation to GM’s hybrid vehicles. Very much like something out of a movie, Shan Shan Du has been accused of copying thousands of GM documents to an external hard drive five days after the automaker offered her a severance agreement in January 2005.
Du and her husband Qin, are said to have been planning to pass information on GM’s hybrid tech to Chinese carmaker Chery, through a small firm they own called Millennium Technology International. Evidence supposedly extracted from a series of e-mails to the Chinese automaker also proposed a joint venture between Millennium and Chery.
The case is still in being played out in court and the likely outcome can be anything from 10 to 20 years in prison with a fine of $250,000. That should deter auto execs from diving into the espionage business.
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typical of China, if they can’t get what they want through normal means, espionage is the way they choose, everything from nuclear secrets to industrial. A pariah of a nation of bootleggers, copycats and intellectual property criminals.
Hehehehehe… their nuclear and weapons secrets are from USSR/Russia lah.
do something share something for proton?
aiya…Proton got nothing to do with this…
ur name spell very well about u .. congrats !
serve them right.
China really luv 2 copy
Padan muka! Work with honesty u fool…I say bagi jer prison sentence tu…
Big big big trouble.
Boy he’s screwed.
GM must focus on their vehicle realibility…
no need to foucus on other issue….
people will still buy the vehicle if quality and prices ok
what to be afraid of….
no secret in technology…
this issue will make people will more anti GM..
long life new car maker!!!
Would you keep mum when one has spent billions of dollars on research and have it sold to 3rd party by your employee and have 3rd party come with the same product cheaper because they got it for free.
I have work for an international company and we have experinced the same. Our chinese partner keep asking for design prints for various reasons, lucky we didn’t buy any of it. Don’t make stupid comments unless you what you’re talking about.
No surprise. Thats how China grow technically, by stealing other people idea. CRV, Altis..
huh…not surprise at all, coppycats n wanna get rich through shortcut path. no ethical at all.
oh man…
if you have time please go to car maker r&d
if you go to car maker A R&D (even europe, continental or asian car maker) , you will found dozens of other model car inside it and srapped after project complete..
this is STEALING?
come on man….
technology is no secret…
well.. this is the one in which red hand caught.. there are plenty.. or million more..
it norm in business industry..
at least in china..they still got effort to copy, rebuilt it from the given blue print.. in Malaysia.. if someone got the blue print.. they even don;t know what to do.. as GM to supply them the technology.. JV.. sleeping partner.. and after few years.. nobody know what happen to the project..
Mmmhh… Dato’ Syed Zainal come from Perodua right? Maybe he brought some Perodua’s marketing strategy to Proton…
that’s a stupid thing to do. Did they think they were working for a Malaysian er sorry, Chinese company??
its happen in real world, but yes GM have right to sue them, padan muka…stupid if you download thousand of doc in five days…. that why IT department is important interm of security…,,eventhou technical Team sometime hate them….
F1 had Stepneygate, Auto Industry now has Shanshangate. :-)
Yikes, the wife and husband duo have been caught with their pants and skirts down (in a manner of speaking)! This gives an interesting insight to how the chinese automotive world gain their “technological breakthrough”. Anyway, I wonder what other “technology transfer” aside from automotive sector that has been going on in China.
KAH..KAH..KAH….very proud our Proton car….over 20 years in market ( but only malaysia market ), use LOTUS / LUPUS technology ( but until now in best 10 last.. )