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Intellectual Property Law

: Womble Trade Secrets Blog

Judge from Eaton Aerospace Trade Secrets Case to Plead Guilty to Lying to FBI

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We have reported about the Eaton Aerospace trade secrets matter before: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/01/federal-indictments-in-eaton-aerospace.html. That report was about the criminal indictments of the former employees - all of which were ultimately thrown out by a federal judge. But there was a civil case between Eaton Aerospace and Frisby, too.

In the civil case, the trade secrets allegedly misappropriated and at issue relate to hydraulic pumps and motors for military and commercial aerospace applications. The five former employees -- Rodney Case, Kevin Clark, Mike Fulton, Douglas Murphy and James Ward -- are co-defendants with Frisby (now known as Triumph Actuation Systems).

The judge assigned to the case was Judge Bobby DeLaughter. And Judge DeLaughter's former boss and mentor is a Mississippi attorney named Ed Peters. Well, Judge DeLaughter is allegedly pleading guilty to lying to the FBI in an investigation of his judicial conduct.

Frisby's attorneys maintain rulings from DeLaughter began going in Eaton's favor when Peters became one of Eaton's attorneys. If Frisby attorneys can prove DeLaughter was improperly influenced by Peters and Eaton knew about it, Eaton's lawsuit likely would be dismissed without ever making it to trial.

Eaton attorneys and officials have said the company hasn't done anything wrong. They said if Peters did anything improper, it was without the company's knowledge. Peters has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing, but he voluntarily relinquished his law licenses.

What ultimate impact Judge DeLaughter's guilty plea with have on this civil misappropriation case can only wait to be seen. We'll report back.

Full post as published by Womble Trade Secrets Blog on July 31, 2009 (boomark / email).