In a company statement, former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) and founder of PlayNitride, Yun-Li (Charles) Lee has refuted GPI’s allegations of selling the company’s key technologies to Chinese LED manufacturer San’an Opto, reported TechNews.

GPI has filed a plaintiff to Tainan Investigation Bureau, a branch under Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The Tainan investigation team interviewed in total 10 people involved in the case including Lee. On Jan. 27, 2016, PlayNitride also released an announcement to clarify the accusations, claiming reports had distorted the truth, and it was being suppressed and hammered by GPI.

The whole incident can be traced back to 2013, when Lee who was the vice president and CTO of GPI. Lee was suspected of supplying unauthorized epitaxial wafer and dies to San’an Opto for testing, which is considered a violation of product confidentiality. After Lee left the company, he accepted nearly NT $ 80 million (US $2.38 million) of capital from San’an Opto to found PlayNitride and even recruited several R&D staff from GPI.

GPI found out in mid- March of 2014 that the epitaxial wafers from San’an Opto resembled GPI’s products. Following the analysis and assessment conducted by National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, it was determined the products from San’an Opto may have referenced or copied GPI’s wafer structure. GPI then filed a report to the local investigation department. It is estimated that Genesis has suffered NT$ 1.3 billion loss, due to this particular trade secret theft.

Lee and involved person were let go on bail, and returned from Tainan investigation team’s interviews. PlayNitride announced since the trade secret case was still under investigation, it could not reveal any specific details. However, it stressed that facts had been purposely distorted and concealed. PlayNitride is cooperating with investigation authorities to clarify facts. The company argued that GPI filed the complaint to suppress its development and may have forged evidence and made false accusations against PlayNitride and its employees.

The company has collected and provided related evidence to its lawyers to defend and protect its reputation. So far GPI has not commented on PlayNitride’s statement.

(Translator: Emma Chang, Editor, LEDinsidehttp://Editor:Judy Lin, Chief Editor, LEDinside)