More trade secret theft indictments highlight need for document protection
Several people were recently indicted on charges of trade secret theft, highlighting the need for organizations to take proactive steps to protect their intellectual property.
Janice Kuang Capener and Luo Jun face 18 counts stemming from the alleged theft of a significant amount of proprietary information from Orbit Irrigation Products. In 2009, Capener, who had been an Orbit employee for six years, was fired by the company. Before leaving, she downloaded sales and pricing information.
With the assistance of Jun, who owned Zheijian Hongchen Irrigation Equipment, Capener established her own company, Sunhills International. The two conspired to undercut Orbit's prices and blackball Orbit among Chinese manufacturers, according to the indictment.
In the other case, Yihao "Ben" Pu is charged with numerous counts of trade secret theft from Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, for which he had previously worked as a programmer. According to the Chicago Tribune, Pu stole computer code used by the firm to develop trading strategies.
As both of these cases illustrate, companies with sensitive information should take steps to ensure that their document protection standards are sufficient to prevent the threat of insider-driven trade secret and intellectual property theft.




