Hytera fined $50m after pleading guilty to stealing Motorola trade secrets

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Vendors; 12 March 2026; 8967 views

Chinese telecommunications company Hytera has been fined US$50 million by a US federal court after pleading guilty to stealing trade secrets from rival Motorola Solutions.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Hytera began recruiting Motorola employees as early as 2006 and directed them to take confidential information and proprietary technology with them when they left the company.

The stolen material related to Motorola’s digital mobile radio (DMR) technology. Engineers at Hytera allegedly used the information - including source code - to accelerate development of its own products without undertaking the heavy research and development investment that Motorola had made.

Authorities said Hytera then competed directly with Motorola between 2006 and 2020 using those products, ultimately causing Motorola an estimated US$214 million in lost profits. However, previous payments made by Hytera to Motorola following a civil judgment were recognised as restitution in the criminal case.

Hytera pleaded guilty last year in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to a federal charge of conspiracy to steal trade secrets. As part of the ruling, a US district judge also placed the company on five years’ probation, requiring it to implement a compliance programme and submit annual reports to the US government.

The case also extends to individual employees. In 2021, seven Hytera staff were indicted by a federal court in Chicago over their alleged roles in the corporate espionage scheme. One employee pleaded guilty in 2022 and is still awaiting sentencing, while arrest warrants remain outstanding for the other six defendants.