By Suzanna Kerridge, 15 May 2001 14:30
NEWS A Federal Judge was told how the technologists, Lin Hai and Xu Kai, held top-level positions at the company's New Jersey-based headquarters. A third man, Chang Yong-Qing, vice president of optical vendor Village Networks, also stands accused. The three face charges of stealing source code and software associated with Lucent's PathStar Access Server system and selling them to a state-owned Chinese company. It is alleged the men tried to duplicate the system and sell it as their own under the product name CLX1000. Lucent claims it suffered an $80m loss as a result of the theft. Although the product is no longer used, the source code of the voice over internet protocol system was valuable for future products, the company told the court. The technology was shelved at the beginning of last year as part of Lucent's restructuring plans, but in the financial year 2000 it generated around $100m in revenue. If the technologists are found guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud they could face five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Family and friends are trying to raise the $900,000 needed for each man's release.
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