FBI agents arrested three Chinese scientists on Thursday, saying they conspired to steal source codes and software from an Internet server operated by US-based telecoms giant Lucent.

The defendants, working out of New Jersey, founded ComTriad Technologies in January 2000 to negotiate a joint venture project with Datang Telecom Technology, which is majority-owned by the Chinese government, according to the US attorney's office.

According to a complaint filed in the US District Court, the technology stolen from Lucent - source codes and software for the PathStar Access Server - was stored on a password-protected website created by ComTriad and transferred to Datang in a US$1.2 million joint venture known as DTNET.

"Datang is shocked by these reports and feels sorry," the company's statement said.

"As a publicly listed company, Datang strictly abides by laws and regulations designed to protect intellectual property rights and has always conducted cooperation with foreign partners on that basis," it said.

The company has not been accused of complicity in the case.

Datang and Lucent started negotiations on a cooperative project years ago and officially signed a strategic partnership contract last year.

The two companies have maintained a close relationship.

"Our company was built out of the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology, so we deeply understand the importance of intellectual property rights protection," said Meng Youwei, a Datang spokesman.

Meng said he hopes the case will be solved as soon as possible to avoid influencing the relationship between Lucent and Datang.

Kung Hing-tong, spokesman for Lucent Technologies (China) Co, said Lucent hopes the case will not hurt its good relationships with Chinese partners, as China will soon become the world's largest telecoms market.

(China Daily 05/08/2001)