Companies that have long been exposed to intellectual property rights have been required to take additional protection measures. Persons who know about company security protection have said that in order to protect the content of confidential conversations, these companies will thoroughly inspect the conference rooms and hotel rooms to prevent the installation of hidden eavesdropping devices.
Foreign companies visiting Chinese executives often carry so-called one-time mobile phones that do not store contact information, e-mails, or other data that can easily be stolen. According to informed sources, mobile phone text messages are sometimes encrypted.
Violet Ho of the company's investigation agency Kroll stated that although theft of trade secrets is not unique to China, the huge size and development nature of the Chinese economy has increased the risk of intellectual property theft of foreign companies.
He is responsible for Kroll Greater China's investigation and dispute settlement business. She stated that China is the second largest economy in the world, with many companies and activities. In the short term, business motives and financial interests are very attractive. .
In a recent survey, U.S. companies operating in China stated that their biggest concern in terms of intellectual property rights is inadequate legal protection, and that it is difficult to obtain judicial remedies when their rights are violated.
According to this survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce, most of the respondents stated that China is more vulnerable to intellectual property theft than other countries, and data security is also at greater risk, despite the Than, China's gap in this area has narrowed.
American Superconductor Corp. (AMAC), the Massachusetts-based manufacturer of wind turbine control systems, sued a US-funded wind turbine equipment manufacturer in the US federal court for bribing its employees to steal intellectual property rights. , American Superconductors won the case in January.
However, at a public hearing held by the U.S. trade representative in October last year, the company’s chief executive Daniel McGahn said that the two Chinese courts have so far rejected the allegations of infringement filed by Superconductors of the United States on the grounds of lack of evidence.
The record of the hearing shows that McGahn said: 'What we ultimately sought in the West is to find a way to cooperate with China and to enforce the rule of law. I think the question is whether China can today, or is it ready to implement the rule of law?'
The Chinese government refuted allegations that it allowed infringement of intellectual property rights or forced foreign companies to transfer intellectual property rights. The accusation was also a major problem for the Trump administration's new tariff measure plan.
Trump hopes that China will loosen US car companies that require business operations in China, cloud service providers and other companies must share technology policies with Chinese partners. Ford Motor Co., F, General Motors Co. , GM), Amazon (American Amazon.com Inc., AMZN) and other US companies all operate 50% joint ventures with Chinese partners.
However, such technology transfer is different from the direct stealing of some American companies.
Sean Molloy, a partner at Control Risks in Shanghai, said that the threats come not only from competitors, but also from inside the company seeking to make money by selling company secrets to make money.
This prompted many companies to take defensive measures.
Several multinational executives stated that they have prevented employees from discussing company business on WeChat. WeChat is a very widely used social media and instant messaging service in China. This application is not encrypted and is closely monitored for censorship purposes.
Paul McKenzie, managing partner of Morrison & Foerster (MOF.XX) Beijing office, said that companies that license software to Chinese companies sometimes prevent theft by installing software on servers with limited access rights.
A person familiar with the situation revealed that for fear of eavesdropping, a foreign manufacturer with a presence in China has forbid executives from attending high-level corporate meetings held in the country through videoconferencing. The person familiar with the matter said that if necessary, the relevant executives must attend the meeting. Will fly back to headquarters.
According to Kroll's Ho Yuet, her company was hired to investigate a case that involved a Chinese company defeating its Western rivals on the release of a product. The Western company had doubts, and Kroll’s investigation found that In a business trip before the incident occurred, the hotel room where the chief executive officer of the Western company entered was invaded. The data of his laptop computer was turned out by a U disk.
He Yue stated that the investigation confirmed that the secretary of the senior executive inadvertently shared his trip with a person who met in social media.
He Yue stated that the company believes that there is not enough evidence to show that the theft was linked to its rival company, but the secretary was fired.