Intellectual Property Law

Sweeden: Legislative Amendments Proposed to Strengthen Protection of Trade Secrets

Posted on July 29, 2008
Contributed by Advokatfirman Vinge On June 10 2008 a Swedish governmental committee assigned with the task of reviewing and potentially proposing amendments to the Act on Trade Secrets submitted its report entitled "Strengthened Protection for Trade Secrets"...

Trade secrets dispute with "Barbie" maker Mattel

Posted on July 29, 2008
On Friday a lawyer for MGA Entertainment, the maker of "Bratz" dolls, said the company requested a new trial in its trade secrets dispute with "Barbie" maker Mattel after a juror was dismissed for making an ethnic slur against MGA's CEO. The judge has set a hearing for August 3 to decide whether the trial should proceed.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF the CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM, et. al. CASE

Posted on July 27, 2008
A market researcher brought action against Board of Trustees of California State University and acting director of San Diego State University Center for Hospitality and Tourism Research alleging copyright infringement, conversion, trade secret misappropriation, and unfair business practices...

COVAD COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY CASE

Posted on July 27, 2008
A Communications company, providing integrated voice and data communications, including digital subscriber line (DSL) services, as alternative to local phone companies, filed suit against customer lead generation services provider, claiming breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, and conversion by taking proprietary customer lead information for voice over internet protocol (VoIP) marketing campaign and integrating such information into provider's federated database and sharing it with competitors...

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"The Surprising Virtues of Treating Trade Secrets as IP Rights"

Posted on July 27, 2008
Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 358 This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network MARK A. LEMLEY, Stanford Law School Email: mlemley@law.stanford.edu Trade secret law is a puzzle. Courts and scholars have struggled for over a century to figure out why we protect trade secrets...

e-Rate firm settles $750K lawsuit

Posted on July 26, 2008
BY HILARY FUNK ? JULY 25, 2008 Montgomery-based e-Rate Consulting Services may have a shortage of funds, but there's no shortage of lawsuits. Jonathan M. Slaughter, owner of the business, has worked out an agreement to settle two lawsuits by paying $750,000 in installments to a Florida school system that said ERC failed to pass on more than $600,000 the system should have received in federal rebates...

Second Circuit overturned a summary judgment in favor of accused trade-secret infringer Cadbury Stani

Posted on July 24, 2008
Transfer no gross trademark McDermott Will & Emery The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned a summary judgment in favor of accused trade-secret infringer Cadbury Stani (Stani) after determining that the license in suit was ambiguous and inapposite for determination on summary judgment...

Jury Verdict : Plaintiffs Sued Insurer for Failing to Investigate Claim, Refusing to Pay

Posted on July 24, 2008
Decision is for the Plaintiff. In a bench trial, the court found in favor of Acacia Research and CombiMatrix, awarding $35,635,822.66 in damages. The award included $21,464,484.20 for actual damages incurred in excess of the policy retention; $10,288,656...

Mattel Wins Trade Secret Case

Posted on July 24, 2008
Yesterday a California jury found in favor of Mattel Inc., maker of Barbie dolls, in its high profile suit against MGA Entertainment Inc., maker of Bratz dolls, and its chief executive. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Mattel alleged that MGA essentially stole the idea for Bratz from Mattel through a secret collaboration with designer Carter Bryant, who Mattel said invented the doll while on its payroll...

Man charged with stealing trade secrets from Andover firm

Posted on July 24, 2008
By Mark E. Vogler and Jim Patten ANDOVER -- Police have charged an employee of a local job placement agency with stealing client information and giving it to a former co-worker who was fired earlier this year over similar allegations. Timothy Corcoran, a veteran worker at Staffing Group/Andover Personnel, is accused of stealing possible job leads, resumes and other classified information and giving it to Henry Jacobo at Brooks Staffing & Associates -- a North Andover company he helped set up last December before being fired from Staffing Group...

Clear Channel says settles Tribune lawsuits

Posted on July 24, 2008
by Robert MacMillan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clear Channel Communications Inc said on Wednesday it settled lawsuits against Tribune Co and several former Clear Channel employees lured away by the newspaper publisher and broadcaster. Clear Channel said Tribune agreed not to further solicit or hire Clear Channel employees under contract...

Government can't withhold data on serious car accidents, court rules

Posted on July 23, 2008
By Ken Bensinger, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the government may not withhold key data on serious car accidents from the public. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia potentially ends years of litigation over the data, and could soon put crash information collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into the hands of journalists, consumer watchdogs and others...

After Mixed Signals, $10 Billion Motorola Trade Secrets Dispute Settled

Posted on July 23, 2008
By Alana Roberts and Catherine Wilson After a false start, a settlement was reached Tuesday in the $10 billion trade secrets dispute in Florida between Motorola and a defunct Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company. The confidential agreement was reached hours after an earlier hearing to discuss a settlement was canceled because both sides hadn't come to terms, despite telling the judge they had...

Fort Lauderdale-based SPS Technologies settles $10 billion case against Motorola -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Posted on July 22, 2008
By Marcia Heroux Pounds Fort Lauderdale-based SPS Technologies Corp. has settled its $10 billion trade secret case against Motorola for an undisclosed sum, lawyers representing SPS said today. The parties settled Monday night before a pre-trial hearing scheduled for this morning...

Motorola accuses Apple IPhone executive of taking trade secrets

Posted on July 18, 2008
Bloomberg News Motorola Inc., the largest U.S. mobile-phone maker, has sued a former executive now working for Apple Inc., accusing him of disclosing its trade secrets to aid in the marketing of Apple's iPhone. Apple introduced the newest version of its year-old iPhone wireless device on July 11, selling about 1 million of them in its debut weekend at a base price of $199...

Taiwan electronics maker Hon Hai wages judicial battle against Chinese competitor - International Herald Tribune

Posted on July 18, 2008
The Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan: Taiwan's giant electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. appears to have a big advantage in the China market -- its principals all speak Chinese and have an intuitive sense for the country's often bewildering business culture...

California confidential: the same California public policy that disfavors noncompete clauses also restricts the enforcement of confidentiality agreements.

Posted on July 18, 2008
Los Angeles Lawyer June, 2008 James W. Denison [FNa1] Attorneys are often called upon to draft agreements intended to protect a client's proprietary rights. The client may wish to prevent an employee from using information after leaving. Or, the client may want to keep its vendors or potential business partners from disclosing its information to the competition...

Panel approves bill allowing GAO to sue agencies

Posted on July 16, 2008
By Dan Friedman The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday passed a bill that would boost the Government Accountability Office's power to examine the executive branch through steps that include a legislative remedy to a court ruling that said the congressional auditing agency lacks the legal authority to sue for information about Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force...

Taiwan manufacturer Hon Hai seeking China rights

Posted on July 16, 2008
By DEBBY WU Like other Taiwanese companies, giant electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. appears to have a big advantage in the China market - its principals all speak Chinese and share an intuitive sense for the country's often bewildering business culture...

Judge backs action against Nvidia and AMD on price fixing

Posted on July 16, 2008
By Paul Hales IN A BARELY-REPORTED development, a judge has lauded evidence in a case against apparent arch-rivals Nvidia and AMD which stand accused of artificially keeping the price of graphics cards high. A San Franciscan law suit combines "at least" 51 separate civil complaints against the GPU makers, according to a report here...

The Door Store Is Accused of Misappropriation of Ideas - July 16, 2008 - The New York Sun

Posted on July 16, 2008
By HOPE HODGE An award-winning New York City furniture designer is suing the parent company of a furniture retail chain, claiming the Door Store commissioned another designer to copy his furniture for profit. In a complaint filed yesterday in state Supreme Court, John Kelly, of John Kelly Furniture Design in Manhattan, said the Door Store's CEO, Jodi Brinkman Fitzgerald, dismissed John Kelly Furniture Design as a supplier after finding that she could get "virtually identical" furniture from a competitor, Ligna USA Inc...

Maryland Daily Record

Posted on July 14, 2008
BY BRENDAN KEARNEY Cluck-U Corp., the Laurel-based chicken chain that requires customers to sign a waiver when ordering the hottest of its hot sauces, is turning up the heat on a former franchisee in Calvert County. According to a federal trademark lawsuit filed in U...

Bally hit with suit on hiring of CEO

Posted on July 14, 2008
By Ameet Sachdev Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp.'s recent hiring of its chief executive has touched off a lawsuit from a competitor over the possible misappropriation of trade secrets. Michael Sheehan joined the Chicago-based gym operator as CEO on July 1, after nearly eight years at 24 Hour Fitness USA Inc...

ED Pa - No showing that information constituted a trade secret.

Posted on July 12, 2008
Parexel International Corp. v. Feliciano (6/30/08) Parexel claimed that Feliciano improperly acquired or retained custody of its confidential proprietary information, including its customer lists, without Parexel's consent and in violation of Feliciano's employment agreement...

TRADE SECRETS AND THE ROME II REGULATION ON THE LAW APPLICABLE TO NON-CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS

Posted on July 12, 2008
E.I.P.R. 2008, 30(8), 309-319 Christopher Wadlow. Abstract: Discusses the protection of trade secrets in private international law, focusing on the impact of Regulation 864/2007 (Rome II). Notes what is determined by the applicable law and details the approach of the travaux preparatoires and Regulation to unfair competition...

Former HP exec pleads guilty to stealing trade secrets

Posted on July 12, 2008
7/11/08 InfoWorld Daily News Grant Gross Former Hewlett-Packard vice president of imaging and printing services shared confidential information about IBM's product costs and materials with superiors A former vice president of imaging and printing services at Hewlett-Packard has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from IBM, the U...

Defense Department official sentenced to 5 years for China espionage

Posted on July 11, 2008
By Mike Rosen-Molina A judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] Friday sentenced [DOJ press release] a former US Department of Defense (DOD) official to almost five years in prison for disclosing national defense information to Chinese agents...

Former HP executive pleads guilty to stealing trade secrets | ITworld

Posted on July 11, 2008
by Grant Gross July 11, 2008, 04:19 PM -- IDG News Service -- A former vice president of imaging and printing services at Hewlett-Packard has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from IBM, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Atul Malhotra, age 42, of Santa Barbara, California, was charged June 27 with one count of theft of trade secrets, and he pleaded guilty Friday in U...

Job Squad Inc. v. Champion Industries, et al

Posted on July 11, 2008
PA - Lisa Kerr Michael Folio; J - Walker Job Squad, a local nonprofit, filed a suit against Champion Industries, seeking $2.2 million in damages. Job Squad claims Champion stole confidential information and business clients. The suit also names Rhonda Copen, a former project manager at Job Squad, as a defendant...

Merced concrete company awarded $2.5m from rival

Posted on July 11, 2008
By Scott Jason MERCED -- Central Valley Concrete won a $2.5 million settlement Thursday against a competitor, which a jury said feigned interest in buying the company so it could gain access to financial records and evaluate its potential for success in the Merced market...

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