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COMPANY FINDS TRADE-SECRET CHARGES CAN CUT BOTH WAYS

The Recorder, Vol. 132, No. 62 (March 31, 2008) By Dan Levine Executives at Broadcom Corp. may rue the day they sicced the FBI on engineer Tien Shiah. A Santa Ana federal judge acquitted Shiah of stealing trade secrets to benefit Santa Clara-based Marvell Semiconductor. Notable in Judge David Carter's February decision aren't just the shortcomings attributed to federal law enforcement, but what Carter revealed about Broadcom's conduct. Instead of answering Shiah's specific queries at his 2003 exit interview as to which of his work should be considered secret, Broadcom sent an in-house attorney to 'scare the hell out of' the engineer before he decamped for Marvell, according to the ruling. The Broadcom lawyer 'declined to answer these questions or give any guidance, instead advising Shiah that he should consult an attorney,' Carter found.

Full post as published by The Trade Secrets Vault on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).