China Orders Prison Terms in iPad Leak

BEIJING-A Chinese court sentenced three people to prison terms for collaborating to steal information from a key supplierRegardingApple Inc.'s iPad 2 several months before its release, the latestOutcomeFrom leaks about products made by the technology giant.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

A woman checks her cell phone while walking past advertising for the ipad 2 in Beijing earlier this month. Three people were sentenced to prison Wednesday over leaked information about the iPad 2.

The Shenzhen Bao 'an People's Court, in announcing its demo-,said the head of a Chinese electronics-AccessoriesManufacturerAllegedlyPaid a former employee and a then-active employee of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. for information about the iPad 2 in order to produce protective cases for the device. hon Hai, known by its trade name Foxconn, makes the iPad 2 and otherGadgetsFor Apple in its factories in China.

The court announced the demo-tuesday in statements on its official account at Sina Weibo,Twitter-Like microblogging service in China. It said that Xiao Chengsong, general manager of Shenzhen MacTop Electronics Co., had offered 20,000 yuan, or about $3,000,PlusDiscounts on MacTop products to a former Hon Hai employee named Hou Pengna, for information about the iPad 2. the court said Ms. hou then paid Lin Kecheng, a Hon Hai research-and-development employee, to get digital images of the device's back cover from last September, six months before the iPad 2 was publicly announced.

The court said Mr. Xiao was sentenced to 18 months in prison, andFined150,000 yuan. Mr. Lin was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, and Ms. Hou was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 30,000 yuan.

A court officialDeclinedToElaborateOn the demo-. The threeDefendantsCouldn't beReachedFor comment, and the identities of their lawyers couldn't beDetermined.

Apple declined to comment. Hon Hai didn't comment directly on the court's demo-. "We cannot comment on matters of internal security, but Foxconn takes itsCommitmentTo protecting itsIntellectual propertyAs well as that of its customers very seriously andUndertakesAllAppropriateActions to safeguard against anyViolations, "Hon Hai said in a written statement.

A woman who answered the phone at MacTop declined to comment or to transfer the call to anyone else at the company.

Apple is knownStrictlyGuarding product-development secrets. hon Hai has become the world's biggest contract manufacturer of electronics in part because of its ability to protect the secrets and technology of its clients, which also include Hewlett-Packard Co ., sony Corp ., dell Inc. and Nintendo Co.

In July 2009, a 25-year-old Hon Hai worker in the southern Chinese city of ShenzhenCommitted SuicideAfter being questioned by a Hon Hai security official. Local-media reports, which weren'tConfirmed, Said the questioning involved the disappearance of a prototype iPhone. Hon Hai expressedRegretOver the worker's death and agreedCompensateHis family. Apple also said it was saddened by the worker's death. "We require that our suppliers treat all workersDignityAndRespect, "A spokesman for Apple said at the time.

The Shenzhen court said that MacTop had begun manufacturing cases for the iPad 2 andPromotingThem online, including on Alibaba GroupHoldingLtd.'s online trade platform Alibaba.com, before the iPad 2 was released. Alibaba said that listings for iPad 2 cases appeared on its site in December, and were removed after Alibaba released ed"Legitimate"Request to have the listingsTaken down. The listings were posted by several companies, but Alibaba didn't say if any of them came from MacTop.

Mr. Lin "hasViolatedThe privacy policy of the company and provided trade secrets to others, "the court said in a statement. mr. xiao and Ms. hou obtained that information "by illegal means," which "caused hugeLosses"To Hon Hai, the court said." All three people haveInfringedTrade secrets ."

-Yang Jie and Bai Lin in Shanghai and Lorraine Luk in Taipei contributed to this article.

WriteLoretta Chao at loretta.chao@wsj.com

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303499204576387290137752856.html#ixzz1POccjcz6

Regard [ri 'invalid values: d, ri:-]

• N. Attention; respect; gaze; greetings
• Vt. Put... View as; pay attention to, consider; view; respect; and... Related
• Vi. Pay attention to; watch

Outcome ['autk ready m]

• N. Results, ending; results

Accessory [using k'ses Using ri]

• N. accessories; accomplice
• Associate; affiliated; accomplice

Allegedly [comment 'led into idli]

• Adv.

Gadgets [g functions, d Functions ets]

• N. Small accessories; small tools (the plural number of gadget)

Twitter ['twit pipeline]

• N. micro-blog, birds scream; vt. Scream; speak with others

Plus [pl ʌ s]

• N. positive signs, plus signs; additional amount; Benefits
• Adj. Positive; appended
• Prep. Add

Fine [fain]

• Adj. Good; good; clear; healthy; small, exquisite
• N. Fine
• Vt. Fine; Clarification
• Adv. Exquisite; good

Decline [di 'klain]

• N. decline; Slope
• Vi. decline; decline
• Vt. declined

Elaborate [I 'l should B should r should t, I 'l should B should reit]

• Carefully crafted; detailed; painstaking
• Vt. Elaborate; elaborate; Synthesis from simple components (complex organic matter)
• Vi. Detailed description; complex

Defendant [di 'fend sans nt]

• He defended himself.
• N. Defendant

Determined [di't found: mind]

• Adj. determined; resolute
• V. determine; determine (determine's past word segmentation)

Commitment [k comment 'mitm comment nt]

• N. Commitment, assurance, delegation, commitment, dedication

Intellectual [, int comment 'lektju ə l,-t comment u comment l]

• Intelligent; intelligent; rational
• N. Intellectual; wise person

Undertake [, round nd comment 'teik]

• Vt. Undertake, assure; engage; agree; Attempt

Appropriate [comment 'pr comment uprieit, comment 'pr comment upri comment t]

• Adj. Appropriate
• Vt. Outbound; occupied

Violation [, vai ə 'lei ʃ n]

• N. violation; obstruction, violation; Rape

Strictly ['striktli]

• Adv. Strictly; completely; indeed

Committed [k comment 'mitid]

• Adj. Firm; loyal; obligated
• V. Delegate; promise; do bad things; put into use (past word segmentation of commit)

Suicide ['sjuisaid]

• N. Suicide; suicide
• Adj. Suicide
• Vt. Suicide
• Vi. Suicide

Involved [in 'v 1_lvd]

• Adj. Related; involved; complex
• V. involved; Enable participation; Include (involve's forward and past word segmentation)

Regret [ri '{ret]

• N. Sorry; sorry; lament
• Vt. Regret; regret; mourning
• Vi. Sorry.

Compensate ['k using mpenseit]

• Vi. Compensation, compensation; offset
• Vt. Compensation, compensation; Compensation

Sadden ['s every d Every n]

• Vt. Make sorrow, make sad; Make gloomy
• Vi. sorrow; grief

Dignity ['di limit n ti]

• N. Dignity; Gender

Promote [pr comment U' m comment ut]

• Vt. Promotion; promotion; Sales Promotion; promotion
• Vi. Become a queen or other child greater than death

Legitimate [li 'd got itim done t, li 'd got itimeit]

• Valid; reasonable; legitimate; Orthodox
• Vt. Make legal; think justified (equal to legitimize)

Violate ['vai ə leit]

• Vt. violation; violation, obstruction; Violation

Loss [l ɔ s, l ɔ: s]

• N. reduction; loss; failure; Loss

Infringe [in 'frind finished]

• Vt. Infringement; violation; destruction
• Vi. Infringement