A federal jury in Chicago on Friday awarded Motorola Solutions Inc. $764.6 million in the company’s trade secrets battle against China-based Hytera Communications Corp.
The jury found that Hytera infringed copyrights and misappropriated trade secrets in developing its digital two-way radios, reports Law 360. The jury deliberated for about 2 ½ hours following a three-month trial.
Motorola argued that Hytera lured its former engineers and tapped into thousands of its proprietary documents, reports Bloomberg. Motorola also claimed that Hytera’s two-way radios, base stations, repeaters and dispatch systems infringed seven patents owned by Motorola Solutions and that Hytera’s “redesigned” i-Series products infringed four of those patents.
The jury gave Motorola everything it asked for, including $345.76 million in compensatory damages and $418.8 million in exemplary damages.
Hytera claimed it developed its two-way radios on its own but admitted hiring former Motorola engineers was a mistake, reports Bloomberg. Hytera alleged Motorola of using its market power to drive out competitors. Motorola is facing an anti-trust case, which will also be heard in Chicago but by a different judge.
