The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office brought the indictment on Friday against Cher Wang and Chen Wen-chi, chairman and president respectively of Via Technologies, and sought four year jail terms for each, according to Taiwan's China Times.

Prosecutors also sought a three year sentence for Via Technologies employee Chang Chih-hao, who allegedly stole the simulation-based test program from rival D-Link, the daily said.

Chang had worked as marketing manager at Via Technologies from 1995 until he joined D-Link in 2000, allegedly to facilitate the theft.

Wang and Chen allegedly continued to pay Chang some 1.5 million Taiwan dollars (44,000 US) in pay and bonuses during the period he worked for D-Link.

Chang left D-Link in 2001 and rejoined Via Technologies as networking design manager, allegedly reproducing the D-Link program for use by Via Technologies for development and research purposes.

Via Technologies, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip and PC technologies, had revenue of over 720 million US dollars in 2002, company data showed.

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