Trade Secret Theft, Industrial Espionage, and the China Threat

6 Trade Secret Theft, Industrial Espionage, and the China Threat

The Chinese tire manufacturer paid the two thieves … to enter a Goodyear facility under false pre-

tences and use cell phones to photograph processes and technology that it could then use to make

similar tires without going through product development. In a year of huge layoffs in our manufactur-

ing sector, this scheme could easily lead to Goodyear having to unfairly compete with a knock-off of

its own proprietary design. Stuff is really cheap when you steal it, and it appears that the Chinese have

decided not to waste years and millions—or even billions—of dollars on research and development

when they can pay far less obtaining critical product information from spying ...