daniel mcgann, head of american super conductor is an exception. his firm spent years and millions developing advanced computer software for wind turbines that mcgann says china looted nearly putting him of business. he is talking because he wants to fight back. >> i am personally never going to give this up. too many families were damaged through this. we can never give of on this. >> reporter: you had to fire 600 people. >> yes. >> reporter: out of how many jobs? >> at the time we were almost 900. >> so how much did you lose in share value? >> tee otal loss is well over $1 billion. >> reporter: today his factory floor is largely silent. a shadow of the once thriving company. >> i think part of the strategy in all of this was to kill us. >> reporter: set out to kill you? >> kill the company. >> reporter: how can he be sure? well his story begins when china passed a clean energy law in 2005 calling for creation of mega wind farms throughout the country. the law made china the hottest wind power market in the world. so mcgann partnered with a small

daniel mcgann, head of american super conductor is an exception. his firm spent years and millions developing advanced computer software for wind turbines that mcgann says china looted nearly putting him of business. he is talking because he wants >> i am personally never going to give this up. too many lives were affected. too many families were damaged through this. we can never give of on this. >> reporter: you had to fire 600 people. >> yes. >> reporter: out of how many jobs? >> at the time we were almost 900. >> so how much did you lose in share value? >> total loss is well over $1 billion. >> reporter: today his factory floor is largely silent. a shadow of the once thriving company. >> i think part of the strategy in all of this was to kill us. >> reporter: set out to kill you? >> kill the company. >> reporter: how can he be sure? well his story begins when china passed a clean energy law in 2005 calling for creation of mega wind farms throughout the country. the law made china the hottest wind power market in the world. so mcgann partnered w

so mcgann partnered with a small owned by the government. sinovel made skeletons of the turbines and american superconductor, the gadgetry and computer code to run them. they actually built the turbine. >> they make the turbine we make the controls. >> did they make the turbines with your brains in them? for the entire country of china? >> yes. >> reporter: when he went into business there, china was already notorious for poaching american intellectual property. so he says he did everything he could think of to protect his technology from being stolen. >> we made sure that any software, any, any -- pieces of the code, were restricted and used, to be able to be accessed by a few people within the company. >> reporter: once they got everything over there, couldn't they reverse engineer it? >> we believe that's what nay tried to do. what they learned the encrypted protocol was in the way didn't understand how it worked >> everybody knows if it is on the internet some brilliant hacker can get at it? >> it wasn't accessible through the internet.

so, daniel mcgann filed suit in suing sinovel for $1.2 billion. he suspected china was still and that beijing had switched from cold war to cutting edge espionage. you can see lesley stahl's full report on our web site. cbsnews.com. the "overnight news" will be right back. living well your immune system works hard to keep you on top of your game. you can support it by eating healthy, drinking fluids, and getting some rest. and you can combine these simple remedies with airborne. no other leading immunity brand gives you more vitamin c. crafted blend of 13 vitamins, minerals and herbs. so when you want to support your immune system, take airborne, and enjoy living well. (cell phone rings) where are you? well the squirrels are back in the attic. mom? your dad won't call an exterminator... can i call you back, mom? he says it's personal this time... if you're a mom, you call at the worst time. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. r it's what you do. where are you?r it's very loud there. are you taking at

his comments on president kennedy civil rights bill and how the hat mcgann the influenced his work. gandhiow mahatma influenced his work. >> i came to the conclusion that it was the most potent weapon inilable to oppress people their struggle for freedom and human dignity. and i would say that this overall direct action movement with its mass marches and pilgrimages and all the other elements that enter the struggle have been patterned a great deal after gandhi. >> for the complete schedule, go to www.c-span.org. >> students around the country are working on c-span's student cam documentary contest, telling thehe issues they want presidential candidates to discuss. we are following students as they produce their video. here's a tweet from indiana. canterbury fort wayne eighth-grade students were excited to hear ben carson address gun control for their student cam. casey krause tweeted, this week to students interviewed former attorney general eric holder for their c-span video project. also illinois representative john shimkus tweeted, i was interviewed by students for their c-span