Honda, Toyota Documents Leaked to Chinese Web Site

Internal documents from several major Japanese companies, including Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., have been leaked on the file-sharing service of China's Internet search company Baidu Inc.

Hitachi, Mitsubishi Heavy, Panasonic and Sony also were among the corporate victims.

The leaks include documents some marked "Confidential" or "For Internal Use Only" prepared over the past two years. They range from advertising proposals, organization charts and detailed sales information to pre-patent specifications for an unidentified technology and Honda photos and technical data about a potential future vehicle.

Japanese news reports say the companies involved suspect employees of their Chinese joint ventures of uploading the information to the Baidu site.

At least some of the affected companies have asked Baidu to remove the information from its Web site. The Japan External Trade Organization and the Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry say they are investigating the leaks.