Employee Steals Over 30,000 Blueprints and Technical Documents from Former Company Upon Joining Genesis - Knowledge Property Lawsuit Concludes After 6 Years, Subsidiary's Shares Worth 400 Million Yuan Frozen

Everyday Reporter | Kong Zesi Everyday Editor | Huang Bowen

On the evening of March 18, Chuangshi (SZ300083, stock price 8.03 yuan, market value 13.369 billion yuan) announced the latest development in a lawsuit. The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Shenzhen Chuangshi Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shenzhen Chuangshi”), has had the 100% equity of two companies frozen, involving a total amount of 400 million yuan.

The dispute began in 2019, when Beijing Jingdiao Technology Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Beijing Jingdiao”) filed a lawsuit against Shenzhen Chuangshi for infringing on technical secrets. Over six years, the case has been litigated from the Beijing Intellectual Property Court all the way to the Supreme People’s Court.

In December 2025, the Supreme People’s Court issued a final ruling, ordering Shenzhen Chuangshi and others to pay compensation of 382 million yuan.

The announcement states that after receiving the second-instance judgment, Shenzhen Chuangshi immediately promoted the enforcement of the judgment. The company negotiated a performance plan with Beijing Jingdiao, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement. The case has now entered the enforcement stage.

Chuangshi previously announced that the company received litigation materials issued by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court in November 2019. In the complaint, Beijing Jingdiao claimed that its former product manager, Tian, stole technical secrets and then resigned, subsequently joining Shenzhen Chuangshi.

Beijing Jingdiao argued that Shenzhen Chuangshi used the technical secrets stolen by Tian to produce and sell imitation products, and applied for patents for its technology secrets. It requested Tian and Shenzhen Chuangshi to cease infringing on the technical secrets and to pay economic damages of 92 million yuan.

In February 2022, Beijing Jingdiao submitted a “Request for Change of Litigation Claims” to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, asking to increase the compensation from 92 million yuan to 382 million yuan.

In May 2023, Shenzhen Chuangshi received the case judgment. The Beijing Intellectual Property Court ruled in the first instance that Tian and Shenzhen Chuangshi jointly compensate Beijing Jingdiao 12.3 million yuan, with an additional 500,000 yuan for other reasonable expenses. In June of the same year, Shenzhen Chuangshi, Tian, and Beijing Jingdiao all appealed the first-instance decision, disputing the facts and reasons related to the infringement of technical secrets.

In December 2025, Shenzhen Chuangshi received the second-instance judgment, which ordered Tian and Shenzhen Chuangshi to immediately cease disclosing, using, or allowing others to use Beijing Jingdiao’s involved technical secrets; and ordered them jointly to pay damages and reasonable expenses totaling 382 million yuan.

The second-instance judgment states that Tian worked at Beijing Jingdiao for about 14 years and signed a “Employee Confidentiality Agreement,” but began large-scale theft of secrets one month before preparing to leave Beijing Jingdiao.

Tian exploited vulnerabilities in the company’s data management system, downloading files 162 times from the server database, copying files to a shared network 70,000 times from his personal computer, and then stealing the downloaded files, which included up to 37,300 CNC machine design drawings and technical documents.

In the January 2026 announcement, Chuangshi stated that after receiving the second-instance judgment, it negotiated a performance plan with Beijing Jingdiao, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement. Meanwhile, Shenzhen Chuangshi checked the enforcement information published by the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court, with Shenzhen Chuangshi and Tian as the enforced parties, and the enforcement target amounting to 382 million yuan.

According to the latest announcement in March 2026, the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court froze 100% equity of Yibin Chuangshi Machinery Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Chuangshi Machinery Co., Ltd., both wholly owned by Shenzhen Chuangshi, involving a total amount of 400 million yuan.

Chuangshi believes that the freezing is a procedural matter during litigation enforcement and does not substantially affect the company’s or its subsidiaries’ daily production and operations. The subsidiaries of Shenzhen Chuangshi are still operated and managed by the company, and the freezing of equity does not involve ownership transfer or control rights transfer of Shenzhen Chuangshi’s subsidiaries.

According to company data, Chuangshi’s main business is the research, development, production, and sales of CNC machine tools. In the first three quarters of 2025, the company’s net profit attributable to the parent was 348 million yuan; as of September 30, 2025, the company’s consolidated balance sheet showed a cash balance of 601 million yuan. Chuangshi has previously stated that the company has the capacity to pay the compensation.

Cover image source: Zhu Yu