Suspected of stealing opponent’s secrets | 6 Fitbit employees sued

According to Reuters, six former employees and current employees of Fitbit, a manufacturer of smart wearable devices, have been sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly stealing trade secrets from rival Fitbit’s Jawbone. US prosecutors headed to Northern California on Thursday. The Federal Court filed a lawsuit against the above six employees, saying that they had obtained the company’s trade secrets after leaving Jawbone, and they knew that they should not have such information.

Both Fitbit and Jawbone produced smart bracelets. As early as May 2015, the two companies were involved in a lawsuit. At that time, Jawbone accused Fitbit of poaching employees and stealing key proprietary information. In March 2016, Jawbone accused Fitbit of The employee stole 340,000 commercial confidential documents. In August, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Fitbit did not steal the Jawbone trade secret.

A Fitbit spokesperson also said today that the judge has ruled that no Jawbone business opportunity is being applied to any Fitbit product, feature or technology. In addition, the six staff members will appear in court in July, and once convicted, May face up to 10 years in jail and fines of up to $250,000 per person.

Previously, according to data released by the market research and research company Canalys, global shipments of wearable devices reached 20.5 million in the first quarter of this year, an annual growth rate of 35%, and smart watches accounted for 43% of the share; Apple, Xiaomi, Fitbit, Garmin , Huawei has become the top five wearable device manufacturers.

According to the report, Apple and Xiaomi’s market share both reached 18%, Apple Watch shipped 3.8 million units, and millet reached 3.7 million, but more than 90% of them are millet bracelets of approximately US$20; in addition, Fitbit Market share is 11%, Garmin 7%, Huawei 6%.