Arrested battery spy

Because of paywall, more details: U.S. Accuses Two Men of Stealing Tesla Trade Secrets - The New York Times

A Canadian man who lives in China was arrested Tuesday and held in New York after he and a business partner were accused of trying to sell secret battery manufacturing technology belonging to Tesla.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn asked a judge to hold Klaus Pflugbeil without bail on a charge of theft of trade secrets. He was arrested after meeting with undercover agents Tuesday on Long Island and trying to sell them technology used to produce battery parts, the office of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.

The second man, Yilong Shao, 47, a Chinese citizen, remains at large, prosecutors said.
. . .
Mr. Pflugbeil and Mr. Shao are both former employees of Hibar Systems, a Canadian company that sold technology for battery manufacturing that Tesla acquired in 2019. They had access to drawings and other documents that allowed others to copy the manufacturing process, according to prosecutors.

After the sale of Hibar, the men formed a company that tried to sell the firm’s technology via ads on Google, posts on LinkedIn and a YouTube video, according to court documents. They were aware the technology was proprietary, prosecutors said.
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The sale of Tesla 2019 battery technology seems somewhat dated. But it is "proprietary" which even if dated is the crime. As for their marketing strategy, they should be arrested from severe incompetence . . . if proven in court.

Bob Wilson

 

Patents and trade secrets are different things. A patent is an idea. A trade secret includes the time and labor to develop a salable product.

Bob Wilson