US Accuses Huawei of Stealing Trade Secrets, Defrauding Banks (bloomberg.com) 98
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges against Huawei, China's largest smartphone maker, alleging it stole trade secrets from an American rival and committed bank fraud by violating sanctions against doing business with Iran. Huawei has been the target of a broad U.S. crackdown, including allegations it sold telecommunications equipment that could be used by the China's Communist Party for spying. The charges filed Monday also mark an escalation of tensions between the world's two largest economies, which are mired in a trade war that has roiled markets. In a 13-count indictment in Brooklyn, New York, the government alleged Huawei, two affiliated companies and its chief financial officer of fraud and conspiracy in connection with deals in Iran. A 10-count indictment in Washington state accused the company of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile and offering bonuses to employees who succeeded in getting technology from rivals.
T-Mobile sued Huawei and its U.S.-based unit, Huawei Device USA Inc., in 2014, and three years later, a federal jury in Seattle found Huawei liable for both breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets. A person familiar with the case, who sought anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak, said T-Mobile's claims regarding the theft of its technology caught the attention of federal authorities in the Western District of Washington. T-Mobile said Huawei sent its engineers to T-Mobile's Bellevue, Washington, facility to see a robot, called "Tappy," which simulates smartphone use. T-Mobile said in its lawsuit that Huawei was able to use stolen parts from the robot to "develop, improve and troubleshoot its own robot." Separately, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on allegations that she committed fraud to sidestep sanctions against Iran. "The U.S., which had requested Canadian authorities arrest Meng, must submit a formal extradition request for her by Jan. 30," Bloomberg reports. "Canada's justice minister then has up to 30 days to assess it. If she issues an 'authority to proceed,' that means Canada is officially moving to extradition hearings. If so, they would likely be scheduled months later."
T-Mobile sued Huawei and its U.S.-based unit, Huawei Device USA Inc., in 2014, and three years later, a federal jury in Seattle found Huawei liable for both breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets. A person familiar with the case, who sought anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak, said T-Mobile's claims regarding the theft of its technology caught the attention of federal authorities in the Western District of Washington. T-Mobile said Huawei sent its engineers to T-Mobile's Bellevue, Washington, facility to see a robot, called "Tappy," which simulates smartphone use. T-Mobile said in its lawsuit that Huawei was able to use stolen parts from the robot to "develop, improve and troubleshoot its own robot." Separately, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on allegations that she committed fraud to sidestep sanctions against Iran. "The U.S., which had requested Canadian authorities arrest Meng, must submit a formal extradition request for her by Jan. 30," Bloomberg reports. "Canada's justice minister then has up to 30 days to assess it. If she issues an 'authority to proceed,' that means Canada is officially moving to extradition hearings. If so, they would likely be scheduled months later."
Canada's justice minister? (Score:1)
David Lametti is the Minister of Justice in Canada. Is "justice minister" a different role?
More ... winning? (Score:1)
USA... (Score:1)
The USA sold equipment to other countries with the express purpose of being able to spy on them.
If the US goes down this rabbit hole it may find its self being subject to the same enforcement by other countries.
FAILURE TO COMPETE (Score:5, Insightful)
Huawei won the race to 5G. Sure they might have had state backing.
But US companies had all the funds the Fed was shovelling for the last 10 years and they did nothing but sack their R&D, pay C-suite billions in bonuses, and fuck over customers with monopoly rates and shitty service.
US Capitalism elected to stand still for 10 years and shit themselves after Huawei pulled off a Sputnik-style vertical launch platform with 5G.
Yeah, NSA is mad, but deep down at the bottom of this is the simple truth that post-crisis US companies are unable to complete AT ALL and now need heavy handed Government proscription of competition to survive. This will extend to Japanese and EU companies as the US lead in technology falls as far behind as the US production base.
Not that you will ever hear about it in the media.
Re:FAILURE TO COMPETE (Score:5, Interesting)
Stolen, what a crock of shite. It was given away by US corporations who wanted to break the backs of US Unions by purposefully shifting out all jobs, impoverishing US workers and leaving them desperate and willing to accept crumbs. China stole it, fuck off, the US gave it away because they were short term thinking psychopathic cunts and they were warned of this outcome years ago, I should now, I participated in the warnings but short term insane psychopathic thinking, could not see beyond destroying American unions, with corporate executives having all the power to dominate the globe, insane shite from the insane. The outcome well you killed the unions but killed your industry at the same time, big fucking win, you idiotic morons.
All that is happening now, it that it is making the US, look like insanely corrupt psychopaths for whom the rule of law means nothing and bullshit is everything, they just lie, all of the fucking time, lie, lie, lie, it never stops and the world is just responding back with lip service now, nobody trust the US government at all and especially not Americans. Look at the fucking spectacle you are making of yourselves, only overweening absurd arrogance is hiding the reality from Americans. Still think they are winning, whilst actually losing all over the place.
Re: (Score:2)
Silver lining: we won't have to read bullshit like your post anymore once the Internet and most of civilization is gone. A price that might be worth paying.
Re: (Score:2)
It's true that US laws don't apply outside the US. However if you want to use the US banking system, it's a good idea to play by the rules that the Department of Commerce puts forth, because the US banking system does happen in the US, and those laws apply.
Is it "fair" ? Nope. Very little of what happens in global politics is "fair." That's how the world works. Feel free to build your own global banking network that has basically all central banks participating in it and show the US who's boss. Nothing
Re:FAILURE TO COMPETE (Score:5, Informative)
The charges don't make any sense. The claim that they tried to steal a robot from T-Mobile called "Tappy". T-Mobile didn't build it though, it's an off-the-shelf Epson robot with some basic programming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
http://web.archive.org/web/201... [archive.org]
It seems extremely unlikely that Huawei would bother steal something that they could just buy and get an undergrad to program for them. All i does is press some buttons in sequence over and over to see how long they take to fail. Some simple calibration for pressure to simulate a heavy handed user is all you need.
Huawei didn't steal 5G tech, it invented it. Its patents cover the modulation schemes, the bandwidth allocation and spectrum sharing, the power management that minimizes interference and maximizes battery life. If those things were stolen then they would have been patented elsewhere, or the patents challenged. It's original technology that China developed.
Re: (Score:2)
In the American way, if they want to attack you, they will dig out clauses from million lines of codes that you may or may not susceptible of violating due to some fine-print deviation and then throw frivolous lawsuits after lawsuits at you while you tarnish in the legal proceedings. Americans are best at lawyering.
Re: (Score:2)
Correction: million lines of legal codes
Re:FAILURE TO COMPETE (Score:5, Funny)
Thank goodness we have posters from China
Yeah I prefer the Slashdot standard discussion of ad hominem attacks greatly to someone actually addressing the content of posts.
But I disagree with you that the AC is from China, so you're clearly a shill for the CCEC (Consortium for Claiming Everyone is Chinese.)
Re: (Score:2)
Except that 5G isn't a thing yet. Other than that, your nationalistic screed is right on point, I guess?
Nobody wants a rehash of the "draft" 802.11n fiasco again, except this time with $1000 smartphones instead of $100 routers.
Re: (Score:3)
Chicom company (Score:3)
Selling stuff to Iran. Bypassing the embargos that Obama lifted that Trump reinstated. Among other crimes.
Re:Chicom company (Score:5, Informative)
You mean this [sipri.org]?
"As part of an international agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of 14 July 2015, the UNSC adopted unanimously resolution 2231 on 20 July 2015. It stipulates it will change the UN sanctions on Iran as soon as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provides a report to the UNSC which conforms that Iran has taken the actions related to its nuclear programme specified in the JCPOA. From the JCPOA Adoption Day, which occurred on 18 october 2015, the provisions related to restrictions on the export from and transfer to Iran of conventional weapons or related goods and services are no longer blanket embargoes.
Instead the Security Council decides on a case-by-case basis whether to permit the transfer of goods and technology that could contribute to the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems based on the inclusion of appropriate end-user guarantees and Iran committing not to use such items for nuclear weapon delivery systems. This provision will be lifted 8 years after the JCPOA Adoption Day, i.e. on 18 october 2023."
Re: (Score:1)
You do realise that US policy is exactly that US policy.
There are 195 countries in the world, the USA being just one of them.
US law, US policy, US anything ends at the US boarder.
Re: (Score:3)
Also, you know Japan attacked the US, right?
Actually, it is the other way around. The Japanese had this nice, closed, peaceful country, which wanted only one thing, to be left in peace. And then the Americans shot at them and threatened them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: Chicom company (Score:1)
Virtually all international payments are handled by the SWIFT organization Which is based in the USofA.
Once the US embargoes a country, SWIFT transfers must stop.
This is why the EU finally created its own payment system with Iran, ti be able to trade, bypassing SWIFT.
Cisco equipment with NSA addons (Score:5, Informative)
How one can "steal" IP when under an NDA? (Score:4, Informative)
And how can one file criminal charge when the claim cannot pass a civil suit?
"According to the jury’s verdict, T-Mobile was not awarded any damages relating to the trade secrets claim [geekwire.com] and there was no award of punitive damages. Although the jury awarded damages under the breach of contract allegation, the amount was a small fraction of what T-Mobile requested. Huawei is a global leader in innovation, and respect for intellectual property is a cornerstone value in our business,” Huawei said in a statement after the verdict in 2017.
Re: (Score:2)
Tests alone will not cause a redesign of shitty software or hardware. Testing only proves that the shitty product is operating within the bounds of it's shitty specs.
hypocrites (Score:5, Insightful)
China stealing IP from the NSA? sounds about right...
America has completely lost the 'ethical spying' moral high ground a long long time ago. This "scandal" is more likely about some billionaires pissing contest with another billionaire. States seem to only exist these days as a drama modifier in the battle between corporations. Which is really just the battle between rich individual actors and cabals, if you look at who is really in control of those nested corporations.
Re: (Score:2)
This is just part of Trump's trade war with China.
Huawei stole trade secrets from American rival? (Score:5, Interesting)
The alleged trade secrets being a robot arm called tappy [youtube.com]. They could have saved themselves the bother and bought one direct from Epson [epson.com]. The real story being this prosecution being used as a pretext to hinder Chinese firms doing business in the US. This prosecution being pushed by the corporate owners of America. Another sign that there is no one in the driving seat in Washington.
Re: (Score:1)
Watching that video by T-Mobile was downright painful. What a bunch of fucking idiots, I'm sure glad I don't work there.
You are right, there is nothing novel in what T-mobile has done, except perhaps the very domain-specific automated test assessment software, which if I understand the video it uses an overhead camera to see if the screen is displaying what is expected. I imagine they just train it with a known working good example, and then then in test mode is spits out all the diffs. Hardly revolutionary
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, because there's absolutely no mobile device operating systems created in the US. Oh wait, both major platforms are.
The hardware isn't worth shit, without having software worth a damn to run on it. More than 35 years of PC computing should have at least taught that by now.
Re: (Score:2)
Just because you have a civil case with settlement does not get you out of criminal charges from the state. T-mobile are not able to vacate criminal charges by settling a civil case, it just does not work like that.
Now it might be pretty crappy tech to steal. However my guess is that the US are using it because they are 100% certain they can make it stick (Huawei have basically already admitted to it) and the Trump administration want convictions to bolster their cause.
I am no Trump supported but I would de
Re: (Score:2)
I agree with your statement. I'm surprised it took this long, to be honest. China forces foreign investment to have a domestic partner. We know the Chinese government has a hand in just about every large Chinese company. That's all fine and dandy, corporations should know the dangers before investing in China. Can't be surpris
Re: (Score:3)
But the US asked us to. And for many decades that's all that's been required to get our government to fall all over itself to comply.
The Canadian people repeatedly tell the government they don't want us to roll over every time the US comes calling, however regardless of which party is in power, they always place US interests above those of our own country. Every single time.
Re: (Score:2)
Some would describe signing treaties when it's well known in advance that only one side will follow them to be the treasonous act.