United States v. Jin

In 1998, Hanjuan Jin (defendant) began working as a software engineer for Motorola, a major telecommunications company. Motorola took numerous physical security measures and required employees to sign confidentiality agreements to protect Motorola’s trade secrets. During a one-year medical leave of absence that began in February 2006, Jin negotiated an agreement to work for Sun Kaisens, a telecommunications company based in China that developed products for the Chinese military. After accepting employment with Sun Kaisens, Jin briefly returned to Motorola in February 2007 and, over the course of a few days, secretly downloaded thousands of Motorola’s documents, including three technical trade-secret documents (Moto documents). Jin continued downloading Motorola’s documents after submitting her resignation. Jin made sure she had both printed and electronic copies of the Moto documents, and she planned to use them to prepare herself for her employment with Sun Kaisens. The Moto documents were marked as “confidential” with an advisal that disclosure could seriously affect the company’s welfare and financial security. Thereafter, Jin tried to board a flight for China with the Moto documents but was stopped by authorities. Upon questioning, Jin lied to border-patrol and federal law-enforcement agents. The United States charged Jin with theft of trade secrets and economic espionage as to the three Moto documents in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1831 (economic espionage) and 1832 (theft of trade secrets). The court held a bench trial.