Thursday 13.06.2024
 

The story could be straight out of an economic crime thriller, and yet that is exactly how it happened. We are in China. An employee, initially Head of Development, later Head of Sales at HELLA Shanghai Electronics Co., Ltd (HSE), secretly steals highly sensitive documents containing detailed product development data and drawings. After more than ten years with the company he suddenly resigns in 2019. He founds his own company, HiBo, with a former Bosch employee in China. As it will turn out later, his business partner also brings secret product information from Bosch to the company. Through their own company, they sell the very products, i.e. copies of FORVIA HELLA and Bosch technologies, whose development data they had previously stolen, at significantly lower prices. And that with great success. Over time, HiBo establishes three branches in China. "HiBo has thus succeeded in taking business from us in Asia with our own products to a significant extent," summarizes Gregor Behr-Wenning, head of the FORVIA HELLA patent department, the damage.

Intensive investigative work leads to success in many respects

But the company and its two managing directors are targeted by the patent department. Internal investigations are carried out in close cooperation with Bosch and colleagues from HSE for over a year. "We had to proceed carefully so as not to wake any sleeping dogs, to identify any potential collaborators and, above all, to secure evidence," explains Behr-Wenning regarding this crucial phase. Ruoyu Zhou, the regional head of the patent department, succeeds in securing clear evidence and building trusting relationships with the Chinese authorities. Based on the comprehensive findings of the patent department, the police finally starts their own investigation. Then comes the breakthrough: A HiBo employee releases documents from FORVIA HELLA and makes a confession. What follows are several house searches, securing of hard disks, questionings by the police, restoration of intentionally deleted files - also on private devices of the HiBo management. The result of the investigation: HiBo may no longer use the stolen technologies. In the meantime, a court has passed judgment: 3 years' probation for the former FORVIA HELLA employee and a fine of 500,000 Renminbi Yuan (equivalent to 63,375 euros). HiBo must also pay another fine of several million yuan, i.e. several hundred thousand euros. And there’s another success: An agreement has been reached with the owners of HiBo regarding the transfer of illegally registered patents on FORVIA HELLA technologies. "It is thanks to the commitment of the police officers and the very good cooperation with the police authorities that we were able to defend our rights and our property," says Behr-Wenning. "In addition, we have regained important business with customers that HiBo took from us with our own products," reports Gregor Behr-Wenning. So, this economic crime thriller has a happy ending for FORVIA HELLA in more ways than one.

However, one aspect is particularly crucial: For FORVIA HELLA, for Gregor Behr-Wenning's patent department, this outcome is a success that has an impact far beyond the company. "We are repeatedly taking action in China against exact copies of our products or are enforcing our patents," explains Behr-Wenning. "For the first time, however, we have taken action against a locally well-connected, cautiously operating company that was set up and operated with a great deal of criminal energy. A wide variety of approaches from civil and criminal law interacted in an unusually complex way. The fact that we were able to defend our patents, our know-how and our business is not only a huge success for us, but also an important message for all European companies operating in China," continued Behr-Wenning. "We are a highly innovative technology leader, and it is important to protect our intellectual property and therefore our business all over the world. We have now succeeded in striking a major blow against product piracy in China. We are thus writing legal history."

HSE intensively involved in investigation

The actions of the former FORVIA HELLA colleague have shocked many at HSE. The employees were therefore very interested in a proper investigation of the case. "We have received a lot of support from colleagues at HSE," emphasizes Gregor Behr-Wenning. And even if it is an isolated case, as a consequence of the incident, the HSE development organization was restructured and specific managers were appointed who enjoy a high level of trust among the team. In addition, China is now represented by two members on the Technology Know-how and Security Board, headed by Gregor Behr-Wenning, in order to be able to support the Board's tasks in China more effectively. This involves, for example, helping to design processes and structures from the perspective of know-how protection or clarifying individual questions on know-how protection with particular relevance in China. Last but not least, the introduction of Microsoft O365 applications has made it much easier to track the history and use of documents. "We take the defense of our intellectual property very seriously. This is because weaknesses in the system quickly become a concrete competitive disadvantage," emphasizes Gregor Behr-Wenning.

Considering all measures, it is important for Electronics Managing Director Jörg Weisgerber to emphasize that this is a case of misconduct by one person. "We can continue to work together with our colleagues at HSE in a spirit of trust. We are one team, even if we are based in different locations around the world. Only together are we strong, only together can we further expand our technology leadership," said Weisgerber.