In a Beijing court this week, software engineer Mr. Chen Zhijiong, unsuccessfully sued his former employer, Beijing Hanhuajie Technology Development Company, for dismissal.

The company was able to provide to the court an email that showed Chen actually submitted a resignation letter to the company, and the company said this resignation letter was the reason Chen left the company.

Chen said he did not expect the company to retain that email, which the court adopted for the first time in its history as effective evidence, and turned down his plea. Chen originally sought 3600CNY in compensation.

Chinese courts are increasingly using technology as help in defending and prosecuting criminals. Last year in Beijing, China's first information theft case pitted foreign company SinoFile Information Services against former employees who had stolen company secrets. The court ruled in SinoFile's favor after SinoFile was able to show technology footprints and logs that showed how and when the employees stole the data.