The Hytera vs. Motorola trade secret case is a nearly decade-long dispute in which Motorola Solutions accused China-based Hytera Communications of stealing its digital radio technology through three engineers who defected in Malaysia, taking more than 7,000 confidential documents and source code with them. The fight has produced a civil judgment reduced to $543.7 million, a January 2025 criminal guilty plea followed by a $50 million federal fine, a worldwide sales ban tied to contempt sanctions, and regulatory blacklisting in the United States. Parts of the case are still open in 2026.
What Hytera Was Accused of Stealing
Three senior engineers working on Motorola’s MotoTRBO digital mobile radio platform in Malaysia downloaded more than 7,000 confidential documents from Motorola’s internal systems in the weeks before resigning. The files covered technical requirements, software architecture, product roadmaps, and strategic business plans. They also took copyrighted source code for Motorola’s radio software.1CCH Intellectual Property Law Daily. Motorola Solutions v. Hytera Communications Amended Complaint
All three went straight into senior roles at Hytera. Motorola’s amended complaint framed this as coordinated recruitment, not coincidence, and argued that the stolen materials let Hytera skip years of independent research and development on competing digital radio products.1CCH Intellectual Property Law Daily. Motorola Solutions v. Hytera Communications Amended Complaint
The Civil Verdict
Motorola sued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in March 2017 and later added copyright infringement claims. In February 2020, a jury found Hytera liable under both the Defend Trade Secrets Act and the Copyright Act, awarding $764.6 million: $135.8 million in compensatory trade secret damages, $271.6 million in punitive damages (double the compensatory figure, reflecting a finding that Hytera acted willfully and maliciously), and $136.3 million in copyright damages.2Justia. Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd.
The district court later cut the total to $543.7 million. It also denied a permanent injunction that would have barred Hytera from selling infringing products worldwide, and imposed an ongoing royalty framework instead.2Justia. Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd.
What the Seventh Circuit Changed on Appeal
On July 2, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the full trade secret damages, keeping the $135.8 million compensatory and $271.6 million punitive awards intact. It found problems with how the copyright damages were calculated and sent that portion back to the district court to be substantially reduced. That recalculation is still pending.2Justia. Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd.
The appeals court also reversed the denial of a permanent injunction, ruling that the district court had applied the wrong legal standard, and remanded that question. If granted on remand, an injunction could bar Hytera from selling infringing products altogether rather than paying royalties on each sale.
Hytera petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review in January 2025, asking it to take up questions about the scope of the Defend Trade Secrets Act.3Supreme Court of the United States. Petition for Writ of Certiorari – Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd. v. Motorola Solutions, Inc.
The Criminal Guilty Plea and $50 Million Fine
The dispute was not only civil. In February 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice partially unsealed a 21-count criminal indictment against Hytera and several individuals, charging conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets. Several of the indicted individuals remain at large.4United States Department of Justice. Federal Indictment Charges PRC-Based Telecommunications Company with Conspiring with Former Motorola Solutions Employees to Steal Technology
In January 2025, Hytera pleaded guilty to the felony conspiracy charge, admitting it had knowingly conspired to steal Motorola’s proprietary information.5United States Department of Justice. Chinese Telecommunications Company Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Steal Technology In March 2026, a federal judge sentenced Hytera to a $50 million criminal fine and five years of probation. The government had asked for more than $290 million in restitution on top of the civil judgment. The judge rejected that request, finding that payments Hytera had already made in the civil case offset what it owed criminally.
The China Lawsuit, Contempt, and a Worldwide Sales Ban
In June 2022, Hytera filed a lawsuit in Shenzhen seeking a declaration that its newer H-Series radios did not infringe Motorola’s trade secrets or copyrights. The U.S. district court ordered Hytera to withdraw. When Hytera did not, the court found it in contempt in April 2024, imposed a $1 million per day fine, and temporarily banned Hytera and all its subsidiaries, affiliates, distributors, and resellers from selling any two-way radio products anywhere in the world until Hytera complied.6Motorola Solutions. April 2, 2024 Court Order – Contempt Sanctions
In August 2025, the court held Hytera in contempt a second time for failing to pay royalties on the H-Series. Hytera argued the H-Series was a clean redesign. The court disagreed, finding the new products “substantially like” those at trial, calling many of the changes “merely cosmetic,” and noting that even the genuine modifications swapped code for functional equivalents without changing the underlying architecture. It ordered Hytera to pay $59.3 million in unpaid royalties and $11.2 million in interest.7Motorola Solutions. Memorandum Opinion and Order, Dkt. 1905
Import Ban and U.S. Regulatory Consequences
In a parallel patent case, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a limited exclusion order in November 2018 blocking imports of certain Hytera two-way radio equipment and components that infringed Motorola’s patents. U.S. Customs and Border Protection was directed to stop covered products at the border.8United States International Trade Commission. Certain Two-Way Radio Equipment and Systems, Related Software and Components Thereof
In March 2021, the Federal Communications Commission added Hytera to its Covered List of equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable national security risk. The designation covers Hytera video surveillance and telecommunications equipment used for public safety, government facility security, critical infrastructure surveillance, and other national security purposes, and it extends to all Hytera subsidiaries and affiliates.9Federal Communications Commission. List of Equipment and Services Covered By Section 2 of The Secure Networks Act
Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act separately bars the U.S. government from buying Hytera equipment and from contracting with any company that uses Hytera equipment as a substantial or essential component of its systems.10Defense Pricing and Contracting. Section 889 of the FY19 NDAA For federal contractors, that effectively means removing Hytera gear or losing federal business.
Where the Case Stands in 2026
The dispute is not finished. The Seventh Circuit’s ordered reduction of the copyright damages is still pending in the district court, and the injunction question remains on remand. Motorola has reported that over $370 million of the civil judgment is still outstanding, before the copyright award is finalized. On top of that, Hytera owes the $50 million criminal fine, the $59.3 million contempt royalty order, and the accumulated per diem fines from the antisuit injunction violations.