Red faces all round after a software engineer employed Eastman Kodak Co sent confidential files via email to her sister, who worked for Xerox Corp. Chung-Yah Soong might have got away with it, too, if her mail had not exceeded the company’s limit for file sizes on external email, thereby crashing the server. Soong resigned from Kodak shortly afterwards. She has been charged in federal court with wire fraud and in civil court by Kodak for misappropriation of trade secrets. Soong has pleaded innocent to the fraud charge, and her case has been adjourned until September 11. Though the files covered digital cameras and other devices, there is no suggestion that Xerox was attempting to steal Kodak’s secrets. Soong says she sent the files to her sister for safekeeping. The companies have declined to comment.
