Dive Brief:
- Prosecutors said a former software engineer for IBM in China has been arrested by U.S. authorities for allegedly stealing proprietary source code, Reuters reported.
- Prosecutors said the source code was related to proprietary software the company developed for a clustered file system.
- Jiaqiang Xu, 29, was arrested on Monday after meeting with an undercover officer at a White Plains hotel and accused of trying to sell the stolen code to other companies.
Dive Insight:
Prosecutors said Xu, who began working at IBM in China in 2010, had full access to the source code before resigning in May 2014.
IBM was not identified by name in the suit, but his LinkedIn profile said he was employed as a system software developer at IBM during the period in question.
"Theft of trade secrets of the type alleged against Xu drains the lifeblood of innovation and competition, and is rightly a serious federal crime," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
