Lemko, a small wireless technology company in Chicago staffed largely with Chinese-American engineers, has seen its profits sink ever since Motorola dramatically accused it in 2008 of stealing confidential technology and selling it to China. Rather than shrinking from the damning allegations, Lemko has gone on the offensive. As we reported, its lawyers at Niro, Haller & Niro recently filed a lawsuit accusing Motorola and its outside counsel at Nixon Peabody of bringing the trade secrets case just to ruin Lemko’s business and reputation. Now Lemko has turned the tables on Motorola again, accusing it of stealing its trade secrets and then destroying the evidence.
Lemko’s lawyers at Niro Haller filed a complaint in Chicago state court on Thursday accusing Motorola of trade secrets misappropriation and spoliation of evidence. According to the complaint, Motorola in 2006 hired a Lemko engineer named Xiahong Sheng and pumped her for Lemko’s confidential position-determining entity (PDE) source code, which locates cell phone users in an emergency.
