From France: Espionage – They Do It To Us Also …

• January 7th, 2011
• Posted by EUEditor

A day after the publication of Wikileaks documents calling France the “evil empire” of commercial espionage, news that Renault is acting against a leaking of information about its new electric car.

The company has stood down three executives, of whom one was said to be a board member, declaring that court action looks inevitable.

A spokesperson said the company was moving to “protect without delay its strategic, intellectual and technological interests.”

The Renault Fluence electric car was exhibited at the Paris Motor Show in October ahead of its planned release in mid-2011.

If able to generate a strong market before competitors were able to catch up with its technology, the new model would prove a highly lucrative investment.

Stealing the technology would allow others to prevent that, by spoiling the market and rushing out copies.

By the weekend (8.1.11), the company was giving out assurances that its key technology was safe, though some information had been taken by an “organised international network”.

Earlier, German sources were being quoted from the Wikileaks documents feed, that French industrial spying, including theft of technology, had gone beyond the level of such activity attributed to China and Russia.

The claims centred on the battle for contracts associated with the European Union’s Galileo satellite-ground positioning system.

See EUAustralia Online, “Another headache for France”, i n “Cote d’Ivoire: France and others restless … “, 5.1.11.

Reference

John Irish, “Renault says technology safe in industrial spy case”, Reuters, London, 8.1.11. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE70702V20110108, (8.1.11).

M and C News, USA, “Renault grapples with ‘nightmare’ of industrial espionage scandal”, 6.1.11. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1609799.php/Renault-grapples-with-nightmare-of-industrial-espionage-scandal, (7.1.11).

Le Monde, Paris, “Espionnage : Renault va ‘inévitablement’ porter plainte”, (Spying: “inevitable” legal action by Renault), 6.1.11. http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2011/01/06/espionnage-industriel-chez-renault-une-affaire-tres-grave-selon-la-direction_1461618_3234.html#xtor=EPR-32280229-[NL_Titresdujour]-20110106-[zonea]&ens_id=1402310, (7.1.10).

Le Monde, Paris, “Renault est victime d’une filière organisée internationale“, (Renault is the victim of an organised international network), 8.1.11. www.lemonde.fr, (8.1.11).

Pictures  itwildcards.net

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