Judge Extends Pretrial Motions Deadlines in Trade Secret Theft Case vs. Hytera

U.S. District Judge John Tharp for Northern Illinois in Chicago granted the unopposed motion of defendant Hytera Communications to extend the pretrial motions deadlines in the government’s criminal technology-theft case against the Chinese manufacturer, said a docket entry notification Thursday (docket 1:20-cr-00688). Pretrial motions are now due July 21, responses Aug. 18 and replies Sept. 8, it said. The previously scheduled Feb. 5 trial date stands, it said. A grand jury returned indictments in May 2021 listing 22 counts of trade secret theft against Hytera and seven of its engineers who developed digital mobile radios for Motorola in Malaysia beginning in 2004 (see 2301260060). The engineers quit Motorola in 2008 and 2009 to go to work for Hytera in Shenzhen, and the government alleges they took Motorola’s DMR trade secrets with them when they left.