Intellectual Property Law

Goldman 'spy' trial tests trade-secret limits

Posted on December 04, 2010
By: Emily Lambert The criminal case of the alleged Goldman spy is off and running, and it's shaping up to be a good one. The case seems likely to open a window into the mysterious world of high-frequency trading and to shed some light inside Wall Street's most notorious powerhouse, Goldman Sachs...

Marvell Prevails Against Jasmine Networks in Trade Secrets Case

Posted on December 04, 2010
Marvell Media Relations Santa Clara Superior Court Jury vindicates Marvell of claims made 10 years ago Marvell (Nasdaq: MRVL), a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, today announced that a Santa Clara Superior Court Jury in California found in its favor, rejecting misappropriation of trade secrets allegations brought on behalf of Jasmine Networks, Inc...

Disney's Playdom, Zynga Settle Trade-Secrets Lawsuit

Posted on November 26, 2010
By Andy Fixmer (Bloomberg) Walt Disney Co.'s Playdom settled a lawsuit filed by Zynga Game Network Inc., the biggest maker of games on Facebook, alleging theft of trade secrets. Disney is moving ahead with plans to use Playdom, the Mountain View, California-based maker of "Social City," to expand its presence on social-network websites including Facebook Inc...

Ex-SocGen Trader Found Guilty of Stealing Secrets - BusinessWeek

Posted on November 26, 2010
By Patricia Hurtado and Bob Van Voris (Bloomberg) Former Societe Generale SA trader Samarth Agrawal was found guilty of stealing trade secrets related to the bank's high-speed computer trading software. A federal court jury in New York today delivered the verdict at the end of a two-week trial...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Banks fight to keep code theft trials closed

Posted on November 18, 2010
By: Jim Kim When it comes to high-profile trials of software programmers accused of stealing proprietary code, the government is seeking to close part of the testimony to outsiders. The goal is to protect confidential programming techniques and perhaps actual code...

Indian pleads guilty to stealing trade secrets in US

Posted on November 18, 2010
BOSTON: An Indian-origin former employee of pharma company Bristol-Myers-Squibb has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from the drug manufacturer so that he could set up his own business in India. A Syracuse, New York resident, Jhaveri faces up to 10 years in prison, a USD 250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release and deportation, US Attorney for the Northern District of New York Richard Hartunian said in a statement...

Ex-Ford Engineer Pleads Guilty in Trade-Secrets Case

Posted on November 18, 2010
By: MATTHEW DOLAN A former Ford Motor Co. engineer who went to work for a Chinese competitor pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to two counts of stealing trade secrets, prosecutors said. Xiang Dong Yu, aka Mike Yu, of Beijing, China, is expected to return to court in Detroit on Feb...

At trial, ex-SocGen trader admits secret code theft

Posted on November 18, 2010
By: Grant McCool Reuters A former Societe Generale trader admitted he took home printouts of the French bank's speed-trading code, admitted sharing it with a prospective employer and that it was wrong, an odd twist in the criminal trial over trade secrets theft...

Indian pleads guilty to stealing trade secrets in US

Posted on November 08, 2010
An Indian-origin former employee of pharma company Bristol-Myers-Squibb has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from the drug manufacturer so that he could set up his own business in India. Shalin Jhaveri, 30, entered a guilty plea to a one-count charge of theft of trade secrets...

Ex-SocGen trader trial pinned on fast trade secrets

Posted on November 08, 2010
By Grant McCool French bank Societe Generale's speed-trading secrets, a young man from India accused of stealing them and a failed government bid to close parts of the criminal trial are just some of the elements of a New York jury trial starting Monday...

Sasol drops suit against engineer

Posted on November 03, 2010
By BONGANI MDAKANE and KIM HAWKEY After going all out to stop a former employee selling its trade secrets, Sasol Technology has dropped a R25-million damages claim and settled for an interdict instead. Just over a week ago, the company, which forms part of energy and chemicals group Sasol, and long-time employee Arno de Klerk, agreed to end the acrimony that at one point prompted Sasol to hire private investigators to raid his home and office...

U.S. Urges Closed Trial for Ex-Goldman Sachs Programmer to Protect Secrets

Posted on November 03, 2010
By: Edvard Pettersson The trial of a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. computer programmer should be held in part behind closed doors to protect the securities firm's trade secrets, prosecutors said. The government will introduce evidence at the trial, which is scheduled to start Nov...

Societe Generale Former Trader's Trial Should Be Partly Closed, U.S. Says - Bloomberg

Posted on November 03, 2010
By: Patricia Hurtado Samarth Agrawal, the former Societe Generale trader accused of stealing the bank's computer code for high-frequency trading, should be tried partly behind closed doors to protect the company's trade secrets, the U.S. said. Agrawal, arrested in April, was charged by federal prosecutors with theft of trade secrets...

Former employee denies stealing Poet trade secrets

Posted on October 24, 2010
Associated Press A woman accused of stealing trade secrets from Sioux Falls-based ethanol producer Poet says the lawsuit filed against her is the result of a misunderstanding. Jodi Heath tells The Argus Leader newspaper that she has quit working for another company since learning of the suit...

Nebraska election firm reaches deal over trade secrets

Posted on October 24, 2010
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Election Systems & Software has reached a settlement with a former employee and his consulting firm over trade secrets. The Omaha company said in its lawsuit that Dalton and his Indiana firm were using copyrighted software to help state and local governments manage elections...

Fedor Emelianenko Reveals His Trade Secrets

Posted on October 24, 2010
By: Tom Ngo It's not often Fedor Emelianenko makes a public appearance stateside, particularly when a fight's not looming. However, the planet's former/reigning top heavyweight recently hosted a seminar in Chatsworth, California to pass along some tricks of the trade to a few fortunate fanboys...

Ex-DuPont chemist sentenced in theft

Posted on October 24, 2010
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Forty-four-year-old Hong Meng was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded in June. Authorities said Meng, whose work involved research on organic light emitting diodes, accepted a position at Peking University in China in 2009 without DuPont's knowledge...

Ex-Mirabilis insiders say trade-secrets ruling vindicates them

Posted on October 12, 2010
By: Richard Burnett An Orlando federal judge has ruled that some former insiders of bankrupt Mirabilis Ventures Inc. did nothing wrong when they left the former private-equity firm to start another business, even as Orlando-based Mirabilis became ensnared in one of the largest payroll-tax frauds in U...

Mass. court rejects St. Jude's trade secret claims against Volcano

Posted on October 12, 2010
By: MassDevice staff Volcano Corp. wins the latest round of an ongoing legal battle with St. Jude Medical Inc.-owned LightLab Imaging Inc. as the Superior Court of Massachusetts rules against LightLabs' trade secret claims. The Superior Court of Massachusetts rejected LightLab's claims for protection of five alleged trade secrets relating to laser technologies and denied all of the coronary imaging firm's requests for permanent injunctions, according to Volcano...

Mintz Levin Represents Axsun Technologies Inc. in Trade Secret Victory

Posted on October 12, 2010
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., successfully represented Axsun Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of medical device company, Volcano Corporation (VOLC 24.21, -0.23, -0.94%) , in a trade secret case brought by LightLab Imaging, Inc...

Chantilly's National Events sues Saturday political rally planners

Posted on October 04, 2010
By: Ben Fischer National Events LLC of Chantilly asked a federal judge to halt a rally that a liberal political coalition is planning for Saturday on the National Mall, alleging the group publicized the local company's trade secrets while planning the event...

FBI warns against trade secret theft

Posted on October 04, 2010
By: SIW EDITORIAL STAFF Agency says new 'green' technologies appealing to information thieves Following the indictment of a Michigan couple earlier this year for allegedly conspiring to steal trade secrets related to hybrid car technology from General Motors and sell them to a Chinese competitor, the FBI announced Friday that the case exemplifies the kinds of threats companies currently face related to information security...

Google Had Secret Pact With Other Tech Companies

Posted on October 04, 2010
By: dbtechno Six major tech companies including Google and Apple have admitted to creating secret agreements that they would not try to hire employees from each other, a move often referred to as poaching. "The agreements challenged here restrained competition for affected employees without any procompetitive justification and distorted the competitive process," Molly S...

Now Teed up at the High Court: Do Corporations Have Privacy Rights?

Posted on October 04, 2010
By: Ashby Jones In its Citizens United opinion from last year, the Supreme Court shot down certain campaign-finance limits. In so doing, the court essentially ruled that U.S. corporations have First Amendment free-speech rights. Might the court take another step toward imbuing corporations with all the rights guaranteed U...

Do Institutional Investors Have an Ace up Their Sleeve?

Posted on October 04, 2010
By: Columbia -Ideas at Work- Secrecy is to hedge funds what secret sauce once was to Jack-in-the-Box: fund managers argue that the ingredients and precise amounts that make up their investment portfolios are intellectual property that, if publicly disclosed, would allow competitors to replicate their successes...

Texas Pharmacies File RICO Suit Against CVS Caremark

Posted on October 04, 2010
Six independent pharmacies in Texas are suing CVS Caremark for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations and trade secret misappropriation. The complaint also says CVS Caremark contracts requiring patients to buy maintenance medications only from CVS Caremark violate the Texas "Any Willing Provider" law...

Ind. scientist accused of stealing trade secrets

Posted on September 16, 2010
By CHARLES WILSON (AP) A former Indiana scientist accused of illegally sending trade secrets worth $300 million to China and Germany was ordered detained Tuesday on rare charges of economic espionage. A federal indictment unsealed in Indianapolis alleges that 45-year-old Kexue Huang, who was born in China, passed on proprietary information about the development of organic pesticides to Hunan Normal University while he worked as a researcher for Dow AgroSciences in Indiana from 2003 to 2008...

Devine Agrees to Keep Apple's Secrets Secret

Posted on September 16, 2010
Devine Agrees to Keep Apple's Secrets Secret By Jeff Gamet Paul Shin Devine, the former mide-level Apple manager accused of selling company information to parts suppliers, has agreed to honor a court order that protects Apple's trade secrets during pre-trial negotiations, according to Bloomberg...

HP sues Mark Hurd to protect trade secrets

Posted on September 16, 2010
By: Benny Evangelista Chronicle Staff Writer HP filed the breach of contract lawsuit just 16 1/2 hours after Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison announced that he had hired Hurd as a co-president. Hurd is also joining Oracle's board of directors...

Rex Ryan dismisses idea that Jets revealed trade secrets on HBO's 'Hard Knocks'

Posted on September 16, 2010
By: Jenny Vrentas The Star-Ledger Rex Ryan dismissed the notion that the Ravens offense could have learned valuable information about the Jets defense from the five episodes of HBO's "Hard Knocks." "What are you going to learn?" Ryan asked. "You guys saw it...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.