From Tire Review
A former Bridgestone Americas research scientist accused on federal charges of stealing trade secrets saw most of the charges against him dismissed by a federal judge.
On Sept. 24, U.S. Northern District of Ohio Court Judge James Gwin dismissed 12 of the 15 counts against Xiaorong Wang, ruling that the “evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction.”
Wang, 50, saw all of the trade secret theft charges and four of seven counts of making false statements dismissed.
The former employee at the Bridgestone Center for Research and Technology in Akron was indicted on those charges on Aug. 14, with federal authorities claiming Wang had stolen specific trade secrets from the tiremaker with plans to sell that information to other tiremakers. The U.S. alleged Wang removed "proprietary information" from Bridgestone following his termination for an unrelated matter in April 2010.
Court records reported locally said, “Specifically, the court found insufficient evidence that any conversion of a trade secret was for the economic benefit of someone other than the owner. The court also found insufficient evidence that the defendant intended or knew that any theft would, to a practical certainty, injure the owner of the trade secret.”
Wang’s attorney has maintained that while his client did remove the information, he held no ill will toward Bridgestone, had no plans to give the material to another person or company, and never gave or sold the data to another party.
