China. Motorola.DOJ. Trade secrets. Litigation.

Jan Wolfe of IP Insider provides the following information on two court cases: "The first is the criminal espionage prosecution of software engineer Hanjuan Jin. When she quit her job at Motorola, Inc.'s offices outside Chicago in 2007, Jin took with her two bags full of confidential company documents, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The second is Motorola's drawn-out trade secrets fight with Lemko Corp., a small crosstown rival founded by former Motorola employees. Motorola sued Lemko's founders in 2008, claiming that they assisted Jin in her ill-fated caper."

The issue is not which country gets the trade secrets, or that there are evil people in the world who try and profit from stealing trade secrets, it is that companies do so little to stop it.   The courts won't stop it and at best someone gets fined, several years later. Relying on litigation to stem the flow of trade secrets outside America is like suing the fox after he has eaten all the chickens. Trade secret litigation is a growing business, and there is no evidence that litigation will stop or even slow down trade secret misappropriation. 

The protection of trade secrets must start with diligence by the company. For example, if Jin took "Two bags full of confidential company documents," then the person who discharged Jin must be incompetent. Two bags of documents are hardly easily concealable. Many Americans believe that the governments of the other countries are at fault. This belief is absurd. If our government can not stop trade secrets from getting out, why do we believe another government can stop it getting in. Often, China gets fingered as the culprit. What a waste of useless finger pointing.

I have been involved in a several trade secret disputes and I am familiar with the precautions some firms take to protect what they believe is important. The legal system is a post-crime remedy with punishments typically too late and too inadequate and not prohibitive for other trade secret thieves. When the judge hammers his gavel court in session, the fox has already feasted. 

The only solution is that companies need to build better fences around their trade secrets. Fences are likely less expensive and more effective than the price of litigation and the price of giving the competition a leg-up in the market place.

My advice to Motorola. Build a better fence.