Three scientists accused of stealing Lucent Technologies Inc. software and sharing it with a Chinese company made plans to take their venture public and bragged it would become an Internet equipment giant in China, authorities say.
The two Lucent employees and another man, all Chinese born, were arrested Thursday by the FBI for allegedly stealing trade secrets from Lucent. They were ready to roll out their “rip-off” product in September, U.S. Attorney Robert Cleary said.
“In the information age, it is difficult to imagine anything more dangerous to a company’s business interests,” he said.
Cleary said there are no allegations that the Chinese company, Datang Telecom Technology Co. of Beijing, was aware of the theft.
The stolen software was for Lucent’s now-discontinued PathStar system, which enables Internet service providers to offer low-cost voice and data services. PathStar had more than 90 percent of the market and generated $100 million for Lucent last year, according to court papers.
It is unclear if the Chinese company, which is run largely by the government, obtained enough data to replicate Lucent’s PathStar system.
“A substantial amount of the source code, which is the crown jewel, has been transferred” to the Chinese partner, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott S. Christie said.
Lucent spokesman Bill Price declined to comment on how much material was stolen, or if it was sufficient to build a system.
