The report in question described a Huawei engineer pressing an Apple Watch supplier for details about the wearable. It goes on to say that such activities by the company’s employees are “a pattern of dubious tactics” to obtain competitors’ trade secrets.
The company is also reportedly providing a strong incentive for its employees to do so. In the form of a formal bonus program that rewards employees with payouts that increases with the value of the information brought back. All that said, a Huawei spokesperson has responded stating that “in conducting research and development, Huawei employees must search and use publicly available information and respect third-party intellectual property per our business-conduct guidelines.” Simply put, it’s a long way of saying the company is doing nothing wrong.
Whether or not that’s the case remains to be seen. The company will still have to deal with the arrest of its CFO, which Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, has deemed to be political in nature. (Source: The Information via MacRumors)