Court Orders Hytera to Pay Over $70 Million in Unpaid Royalties and Interest to Motorola Solutions on the Prior Sale of Hytera’s “Redesigned” H-Series Products; $70+ Million is in Addition to the More Than $550 Million in Judgment and Royalties Previously Awarded by the Court
Court Holds Hytera in Civil Contempt for the Third Time for Refusing to Obey Court Orders
CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) supports the recent ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (the “District Court”) that determined Hytera Communications Corporation Limited (SHE: 002583) of Shenzhen, China (“Hytera”) continues to use Motorola Solutions’ trade secrets in Hytera’s digital mobile radio (DMR) H-Series products sold worldwide. Despite Hytera’s claim to have redesigned the H-Series without Motorola Solutions’ intellectual property, the District Court found that Hytera’s H-Series products are substantially similar to Hytera’s previously adjudicated DMR radios and repeaters, noting:
- “While Hytera publicly claimed during the H-Series’s U.S. launch that the H-Series was redesigned ‘from the ground up’ ‘in a clean room,’ Hytera did not ‘start from scratch’ in its redesign.”
- “Hytera left several Motorola trade secrets in place. Many of the changes Hytera did make were merely cosmetic.”
- “Hytera’s redesign process demonstrates that the H-Series was (like the products adjudicated at trial) built on the foundation of Motorola’s trade secrets.”
- “This ensured that Hytera could continue to profit off Motorola’s designs. These replacements of lines of code with functional equivalents did nothing to change the product’s reliance on Motorola’s trade secrets (which included the software architecture).”
“This significant ruling from the District Court demonstrates the continued brazen nature of Hytera’s illegal conduct and willful disregard for the U.S. judicial system,” said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO, Motorola Solutions. “Hytera’s H-Series design highlights the continued unlawful use of our trade secrets and copyrighted source code and Hytera’s inability to develop radios without stealing our technologies. We will relentlessly defend our intellectual property, holding Hytera accountable for its continued and ongoing illegal transgressions against our company.”
The District Court has ordered Hytera to pay Motorola Solutions royalties of more than $59 million plus more than $11 million in interest for Hytera’s worldwide sales of H-Series products through the first quarter of 2024. These amounts were calculated in accordance with the District Court’s July 2022 order requiring Hytera to pay Motorola Solutions royalties of $80.32 per unit for Hytera radios and $378.16 per unit for Hytera repeaters that utilize Motorola Solutions’ stolen trade secrets and copyrighted source code. The order also requires Hytera to pay these royalties going forward on its H-Series products sold worldwide, subsequent to the first quarter of 2024.
Additionally, the District Court held Hytera in civil contempt for failing to make court-mandated royalty payments to Motorola Solutions, marking the third time since 2023 that Hytera has been held in civil contempt for refusing to obey court orders.
Hytera’s Years-long Theft, Infringement and Refusal to Comply with Court Orders
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In February 2020, a jury found in favor of Motorola Solutions in its trade secret theft and copyright infringement case against Hytera. The evidence presented at the jury trial demonstrated that Hytera had stolen thousands of Motorola Solutions’ confidential documents and source code files. Motorola Solutions was awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages. The outstanding balance of the judgment owed to Motorola Solutions is currently over $370 million, not including the copyright award, which is still being finalized. Hytera has paid Motorola Solutions over $175 million in judgment and royalty payments to date.
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In August 2023, the District Court held Hytera in civil contempt for failing to make court-ordered royalty payments related to the 2020 litigation. After the District Court held Hytera in contempt, Hytera made the initial royalty payment.
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In April 2024, the District Court held Hytera in contempt for failing to comply with court orders and imposed contempt sanctions against Hytera that included a worldwide injunction of sales and distribution of Hytera’s two-way radio products and a $1 million daily fine until Hytera withdrew a competing lawsuit it had surreptitiously filed in Shenzhen, China.
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In July 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (the “Appeals Court”) affirmed compensatory and punitive damages of $407.4 million awarded to Motorola Solutions by the District Court for Hytera’s trade secret theft. Compensatory and punitive damages of $136.3 million awarded for Hytera’s copyright infringement were remanded to the District Court for recalculation based on a technical finding. In its ruling, the Appeals Court noted:
- “The most startling fact about [Hytera’s] appeals is that Hytera’s liability is not at issue. [Hytera] concedes that it engaged in the blatant theft of trade secrets and copying of proprietary computer code.”
- “Hytera’s employees understood that their use of Motorola’s copyrighted code and trade secrets was unlawful. At times, Hytera modified Motorola’s code to conceal its illicit origins. Hytera’s engineers also circulated Motorola’s code…still labeled with Motorola’s logo.”
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“We must conclude our discussion of this case’s procedural history by noting that for much of the intervening six years of litigation, including after these appeals were filed, Hytera has continued its gamesmanship and deception. It deleted stolen documents rather than producing them. It presented fabricated evidence inflating its research-and-development costs. Its witnesses have repeatedly contradicted themselves in depositions and at trial. It has dragged its feet in paying the royalty ordered by the district court, and it has obstructed discovery into its assets and ability to pay.”
- In August 2024, the District Court held evidentiary hearings related to Hytera’s H-Series products. At the hearings, Motorola Solutions presented evidence that Hytera’s products continue to use Motorola Solutions’ trade secrets and source code, and that Motorola is entitled to royalty payments from Hytera and possibly injunctive relief. Those hearings ultimately resulted in this ruling.
U.S. Government’s Criminal Proceedings Against Hytera
In addition to the civil proceedings described above:
- In May 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal felony charges against Hytera and seven of its employees, including former executive Gee Siong (G.S.) Kok. The federal grand jury indictment included 21 counts of federal criminal trade secret violations, including engaging in a decade-long criminal conspiracy to steal and use Motorola Solutions’ trade secrets and proprietary information.
- In December 2022, Mr. Kok pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing; the other six Hytera employees are currently fugitives.
- In January 2025, Hytera pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to steal Motorola Solutions’ trade secrets, making Hytera a convicted felon. Hytera is expected to be sentenced in November 2025, at which time the U.S. District Court will determine whether and what amount Hytera owes in restitution to Motorola Solutions and whether to order Hytera to pay a criminal fine to the U.S. Government.
For additional information regarding Motorola Solutions’ legal actions against Hytera, please visit Motorola Solutions’ dedicated newsroom here.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable federal securities law. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and generally include words such as “believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimates” and similar expressions. The company can give no assurance that any actual or future results or events discussed in these statements will be achieved. Any forward-looking statements represent the company’s views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing the company’s views as of any subsequent date. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause the company’s actual results or events discussed in these statements to differ materially from the statements contained in this release. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our intent to defend our technology and trade secrets and the expected timing of proceedings related to the Hytera litigation. Motorola Solutions cautions the reader that the risks and uncertainties in Part I Item 1A of Motorola Solutions’ 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K and in its other SEC filings available for free on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and on Motorola Solutions’ website at www.motorolasolutions.com, could cause Motorola Solutions’ actual results or events discussed in these statements to differ materially from those estimated or predicted in the forward-looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties cannot be controlled by Motorola Solutions. Motorola Solutions undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Motorola Solutions
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