A US federal court has dropped economic espionage charges against Google engineer Linwei Ding after prosecutors failed to establish intent to benefit the Chinese government. Although these charges were dismissed, Ding still faces a conviction for stealing trade secrets. This ruling will play a crucial role in determining the severity of his upcoming sentencing, set for September 1.

Linwei Ding, a Chinese national, is found guilty in January of seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets for stealing thousands of pages of…

U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco ruled there was insufficient evidence Ding intended or knew his conduct would benefit the government of China, a…