Intellectual Property Law
Womble Trade Secrets Blog 
Womble Carlyle lawyers Press Millen and Todd Sullivan follow trade secrets law.
Post Frequency: 15.4/day Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 16:47:00 Recent Entries: 292
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Idaho Health and Home Products Company Sues Former Employees For Trade Secret Theft - And Ubiquitous News Stories Abound Regarding Longevity Payments
Posted on November 20, 2009The Associated Press is reporting that an Idaho health and home products company Melaleuca Inc. accuses a Utah company of raiding some of its top sales staff, infringing on company trade secrets and competing unfairly.Idaho Falls-based Melaleuca filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against Max International, its top sales executive and dozens of former Melaleuca sales executives...
Hedge Fund Withdraws Trade Secret Summons After Concluding its "Evidence" Was Too Shaky to Proceed
Posted on November 17, 2009The AmLaw Litigation Daily is reporting that Amaranth Advisors LLC, the energy trading hedge fund that lost almost $7 billion in 2006 trading in natural gas, has withdrawn its trade secret misappropriation lawsuit summons against Touradji Capital Management, another You can see the summons here: http://amlawdaily...
IMAX Claims Former Partner, Cinemark, Stole The Trade Secrets of the IMAX Theater Experience
Posted on November 16, 2009Courthouse News Service is reporting that IMAX claims its former partner Cinemark defrauded it and stole trade secrets by trying to "reproduce" IMAX's "multiplex movie theaters across the Americas." It claims Cinemark used the secrets to create "Extreme Digital" or XD theaters to provide a "bootleg version of the IMAX Experience...
TSMC v. SMIC Trade Secrets Case Settles: $200 Million Plus Plus Goes to TSMC and SMIC CEO To Resign
Posted on November 10, 2009LegalPad, a law blog out in California, is reporting that the massive TSMC v. SMIC has settled.SMIC has agreed to pay TSMC $200 million and an undisclosed amount of stock and warrants, Keker & Van Nest partner Jeff Chanin acknowledged. Chanin and his firm represented TSMC in the matter...
The Trade Secrets of Insanity: Guy Claims Sarah Jessica Parker Stole iPod Trade Secrets From Him and Then Transferred Them to Apple
Posted on November 09, 2009Not all trade secrets lawsuits are alike. The one we're going to tell you about here is like no other we've reviewed.Seems Franz Wakefield thinks he got screwed. He claims he invented the iPod in 1983, but had the design stolen from him by "Sex in the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, who then sold it to Steve Jobs in a terribly concerning progression of corporate espionage...
TSMC v. SMIC Trial Continues - See CVN Video Links of Opening, Witness Examination and Verdict
Posted on November 06, 2009We've been following progress in the massive TSMC v. SMIC trade secrets trial going on in California, see here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/11/tsmc-wins-major-trade-secrets-verdict.html. You'll recall that the jury has already found that SMIC had improperly "acquired, used or disclosed" the TMSC trade secrets and violated the 2005 agreement between the companies and that an attorney for TSMC said its expert witness on damages put the requested amount in the range of "ten figures," or $1 billion...
TSMC Wins Major Trade Secrets Verdict Against SMIC - Damage Award Not Yet Declared
Posted on November 04, 2009The Wall Street Journal is reporting the jury in Oakland ruled Tuesday in favor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in a long-running legal battle against rival Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., which TSMC had accused of stealing trade secrets and violating a prior settlement between the companies...
Spring Design Says to Barnes & Noble's Nook E-Reader: "You've Got Our Chocolate in Your Peanut Butter!"
Posted on November 03, 2009Reuters is reporting that Silicon Valley start-up company Spring Design has sued Barnes & Noble and the lawsuit asserts Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets and violated the parties' non-disclosure agreement when it copied Alex's features into its recently announced Nook e-book...
Well-Dressed Attorneys Make Closing Arguments in TSMC v. SMIC Trade Secrets Trial
Posted on October 30, 2009We've been following this TSMC v. SMIC trade secrets trial going on out in Oakland, see here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/semiconductor-international-has.html. The parties have now made their closing arguments, and Law.com has an interesting report regarding those arguments...
Citing Need to Protect Certain Trade Secrets, Iowa Judge Agrees to Close Courtroom For Some Testimony and Evidence in Consumer Fraud Trial
Posted on October 29, 2009The Des Moines Register is reporting that a Polk County, Iowa judge agreed Tuesday to close his courtroom for parts of a consumer fraud trial brought against a Connecticut-based company by the State of Iowa, ruling that certain testimony and evidence could expose the trade secrets of a company accused of illegal sales tactics...
Connecticut Mortgage Broker Loses Staff in 2004 and Lawsuit in 2009
Posted on October 28, 2009CNNMoney.com has an interesting piece about a small mortgage brokerage company that claims to have had 33% of its employees "raided" by another company. Those employees then allegedly worked within 2 miles of their former employer and ate its proverbial lunch...
Federal Economic Espionage Trial Employs Unique Evidence Presentation Technique
Posted on October 27, 2009Johnny Carson used to employ an expression "I did not know that!" for instances where he was surprised by the claim or admission of a guest.We admit surprise and will acknowledge "we did not know that!" with regard to a report by Law.com that the criminal trial judge is permitting a unique evidence presentation technique for the NetLogic trade secrets theft trial currently underway in California...
Defendant in Silicon Valley Economic Espionage Act Trial Blames His Own Wife for Investigation and Prosecution
Posted on October 23, 2009Yesterday we covered opening arguments made by the prosecution in this important economic espionage prosecution. Today we copy you on Law.com's report of the defenses' opening - and this is pretty good.Had Silicon Valley engineer Yuefei Ge spent more time listening to his wife, the government's economic espionage case against him would never have been born, his defense lawyer told a federal jury Wednesday...
Federal Prosecutor Calls Two Engineers "Traitors to NetLogic" In Opening Statements to the Jury in Rare Economic Espionage Prosecution
Posted on October 22, 2009We want to thank the San Jose Mercury News and ComputerWorld for publishing courtroom accounts of this rare Economic Espionage Act prosecution of Lan Lee and Yuefei Ge. Calling Lee and Ge "traitors" to NetLogic, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella told the jury that the case was about stealing cutting-edge chip designs to set up a company that was backed by a Chinese venture capital program and China's military...
Rare Criminal Prosecution Under Economic Espionage Act Proceeds - Case Will Examine Issue of Chinese Government's Sponsorship of Technology Theft
Posted on October 20, 2009We first blogged about this Economic Espionage Act case here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html.You'll recall that the Sec. 1831 of the federal Economic Espionage Act of 1996 provides as follows: "Sec. 1831. Economic espionage(a) IN GENERAL- Whoever, intending or knowing that the offense will benefit any foreign government, foreign instrumentality, or foreign agent, knowingly--(1) steals, or without authorization appropriates, takes, carries away, or conceals, or by fraud, artifice, or deception obtains a trade secret;(2) without authorization copies, duplicates, sketches, draws, photographs, downloads, uploads, alters, destroys, photocopies, replicates, transmits, delivers, sends, mails, communicates, or conveys a trade secret;(3) receives, buys, or possesses a trade secret, knowing the same to have been stolen or appropriated, obtained, or converted without authorization;(4) attempts to commit any offense described in any of paragraphs (1) through (3); or(5) conspires with one or more other persons to commit any offense described in any of paragraphs (1) through (3), and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, shall, except as provided in subsection (b), be fined not more than $500,000 or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both...
Illinois Judge Grants Injunction Against Former Citadel Employees - One of Whom Claims Additiction to Pornography To Explain Empty Hard-Drive
Posted on October 19, 2009We've been blogging about this trade secrets case for a while, see here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/07/former-citadel-employees-defend.html. You'll recall that Citadel, a huge Chicago hedge fund, has sued some former employees for breach of their noncompete covenants and theft of trade secrets of certain kinds of high-speed trading...
Georgia Trade Secrets Act and Preemption
Posted on October 17, 2009The Georgia Trade Secrets Act contains a provision that states that the GTSA supersedes ?conflicting tort, restitutionary, an other laws of this state providing civil remedies for misappropriation of a trade secret.? GCGA § 10-1-767(a). That provision was front and center in a recent opinion of the Georgia Court of Appeals, Professional Energy Management, Inc...
Ford Motor Design Secrets Allegedly Pilfered by Chinese Ex-Employee
Posted on October 16, 2009The Detroit Free Press is reporting that an ex-employee of Ford Motor Company has been criminally charged with stealing approximately 4000 pages of documents that included system design specifications for an engine and transmission mounting subsystem, electrical distribution system, electric power supply, electrical subsystem and generic body module...
North Carolina Business Court Says Customer Pricing Information is NOT a Trade Secret Per Se
Posted on October 15, 2009The authors of this blog practice law in North Carolina. In North Carolina we have a specialized "business court" - where cases involving complex issues of corporate and commercial law are assigned/transferred by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court...
Saudi Prince Claims Swiss-Based Drilling Company Stole His Trade Secrets
Posted on October 14, 2009Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling company, was sued by a member of the Saudi royal family who claims he was cheated of his share of multimillion-dollar contracts won using his trade secrets.Soroof International Co., a Saudi trading agency run by Prince Bander Bin Abdullah Al Saud, claims Transocean reneged on a signed 2007 agreement that would have made the prince's firm Transocean's sole agent for pursuing drilling contracts with Aramco, the Saudi Arabian national oil company...
The Trade Secrets of Greek Yogurt Going on Trial in New Hampshire
Posted on October 13, 2009Okay, admit it. You eat yogurt. You were convinced by all those advertisements back in the 1970s that if you eat yogurt regularly you'll live to be 110 years old.Stonyfield Farm sells yogurt but they apparently didn't know how to make Greek yogurt before they hooked up with Agro-Farma from upstate New York...
Semiconductor Trial Gets Testy in Oakland
Posted on October 12, 2009Semiconductor International has published an interesting piece on the pending trial between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) that is being litigated in Oakland, California. The companies reached a contingent settlement agreement in 2005 that permitted additional litigation if SMIC did not comply with that settlement agreement - a whopper, too, in that SMIC was supposed to pay TSMC $175 million...
Grand Jury Looking Into Alleged Trade Secrets Theft By Hilton Employees
Posted on October 07, 2009The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Hilton Worldwide and several of its former executives could face criminal charges over allegedly stealing documents from rival Starwood Hotels.The Journal, citing unnamed sources, says a grand jury is investigating whether Hilton, owned by private equity firm Blackstone, used documents pilfered by executives who defected to Hilton from Starwood to replicate Starwood?s successful high-end W hotel brand...
Texas Supreme Court Agrees With Railroad - Trade Secrets Needn't Be Disclosed
Posted on October 05, 2009The Southeast Texas Record is reporting that the Texas Supreme Court has sided with the Union Pacific Railroad in its appeal of a trial court's mandate that its rates for hauling hazardous materials needed to be turned over to the plaintiffs in a hazardous materials spill case...
Outbound E-Mail Being Vetted for Data Leaks
Posted on September 30, 2009Law.com is reporting that new data has been reported in a study that claims 38% of large employers in the U.S. are monitoring outbound e-mails for data leaks.And it's not just inappropriate use of e-mail that has employers scrutinizing employees. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are also compounding data leak fears, companies reported, with 8 percent saying they had fired an employee for misuse of social networks in the past 12 months...
DeLaughter Bribery/Influence Evidence May Impact Eaton Aerospace Trade Secrets Misappropriation Case
Posted on September 23, 2009We've reported about the crazy ups-and-downs of this Eaton Aerospace employee defection case before: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/07/judge-from-eaton-aerospace-trade.html.Forbes is now reporting that U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson in north Mississippi ruled Monday the secret grand jury testimony and other materials can be handed over to U...
GM's Daewoo Sues to Stop Russian Automaker from Selling Compact Sedan Allegedly Created Using Stolen Trade Secrets
Posted on September 22, 2009The Korea Times is reporting that Daewoo, the South Korean unit of General Motors, said Tuesday it has filed a court injunction to stop a Russian auto maker from selling a compact sedan, which was allegedly built using its stolen technology.The court action comes nearly two weeks after local prosecutors arrested two former GM Daewoo employees on charges of handing over core information on the company's popular "Lacetti" sedan before getting jobs at the local branch of Russian auto firm TagAZ...
Avoiding IP Disputes with R&D Employees
Posted on September 22, 2009Since he won?t want to blow his own horn, let me bring this one to your attention.This blog?s co-author, Todd Sullivan, is quoted extensively in Technology Transfer Tactics on the subject of intellectual property disputes between research universities and inventors...
Supreme Court of Ohio Says Cincinnati Public School District Exam Questions Are Trade Secrets Exempt from Disclosure
Posted on September 17, 2009The Supreme Court of Ohio ruled today that the questions used in semester examinations administered to all ninth-grade students in the Cincinnati Public School District are not ?public records? subject to disclosure under the state?s Public Records Act because they fall within a statutory exception for trade secrets...
Sarasota-Based Contact Lens Manufacturer Accuses IT Specialist of Trade Secret Theft
Posted on September 16, 2009Sarasota's HeraldTribune.com is reporting that contact lens manufacturer Benz Research has filed a lawsuit against a former employee, claiming that he stole trade secrets with the intent of selling them to competitors.The Manatee County-based company's suit targets Neil W...
Nova Biomedical Prevails in Major Trade Secrets Trial
Posted on September 15, 2009The AmLaw Daily is reporting that Nova Biomedical has prevailed in a high-profile trade secret misappropriation case filed by Medtronic. The report is as follows:A federal jury in Los Angeles has dealt Medtronic a defeat in its efforts to prevent former partner Nova Biomedical from selling a line of blood glucose meters that are able to communicate wirelessly with Medtronic insulin pumps...
Say Cheese - Photography Studios in Noncompete and Trade Secret Spat
Posted on September 10, 2009Well - we were not going to cover this story, but - what the heck. The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that high-end photography companies with galleries at Las Vegas casino-resorts are headed for a legal showdown, with one accusing the other of misappropriating its trade secrets...
DuPont Terminates, Then Sues, Chinese Employee For Allegedly Stealing Trade Secrets
Posted on September 08, 2009Delaware Online is reporting that the DuPont Co. has filed a lawsuit against -- and fired -- a Chinese-born employee who was allegedly about to leave Delaware and return to China with company trade secrets.The suit, filed in late August in the Delaware Court of Chancery, accuses Hong Meng of breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets -- specifically research into a paper-thin computer display technology called an "organic light emitting diode" or OLED...
Nebraska-Based Elections Software Company Sues Two Former Employees
Posted on September 04, 2009The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Omaha-based Election Systems & Software is suing two former employees, alleging they've illegally used the company's software and disclosed trade secrets. The company operates election services in 39 states and overseas...
Federal Reserve Fighting FOIA Case With Trade Secret Jargon a Federal Judge Ain't Buying
Posted on September 03, 2009While not technically a straight-down-the-line trade secrets discussion, we find the recent piece in The Atlantic by Daniel Indiviglio quite interesting. He is reporting about the Fed's stringent opposition to releasing information about which banks received emergency funding in the FOIA case known as Bloomberg LP v...
Raytheon's Trade Secret Theft Claims Tossed By Federal Judge in Texas
Posted on September 02, 2009We first blogged about this case back in 2007: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2007/03/raytheon-files-trade-secrets-suit.html. Raytheon had alleged that in March of 1996, a high-level Raytheon executive quit and started a company called Indigo, allegedly to provide consulting advice to companies like Raytheon...
Law Firm Sued in Trade Secrets Case
Posted on August 27, 2009From the National Law Journal, an interesting story about a trade secrets case against the Foley & Lardner law firm by SPH America, a Virginia company heavily involved in patent litigation.The contention is that the law firm used information obtained in discovery in one case by incorporating it into another case...
Trade Secrets of the Securities Traders
Posted on August 24, 2009Following up on last month?s post here concerning the case of the trader accused of stealing trade secrets from Goldman Sachs, the New York Times has an interesting and well-written piece about the case.The story discusses the claims that former Goldman employee, Sergey Aleynikov, stole code that allowed for ultrafast computerized stock trading...
Newspaper?s Publication of Trade Secrets Leads to Lawsuit
Posted on August 20, 2009This is a new one on us. From the AP, via Google, a story that generic drug manufacturer, Mylan Inc. is suing the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette over stories based on internal documents containing company trade secrets that were leaked to the paper. The stories, Mylan contends, prompted a review by the Food and Drug Administration which ultimately concluded that Mylan did nothing wrong...
Biopharma Company's Competitive Advantage Lies in Trade Secrets, Not Patents
Posted on August 17, 2009Cumberland Pharmaceuticals' IPO last week fell a little flat. But in a piece this morning in The Wall Street Journal, the company's product offerings and competitive advantages are touted to include trade secret advantages and marketing advantages not available to other competitors:"Cumberland's product portfolio makes the rich multiple all the more impressive...
Chinese Formally Accuse Rio Tinto Team of Stealing Trade Secrets: The Goose/Gander Story
Posted on August 12, 2009We recently blogged about the Rio Tinto and Chinese "trade secrets" story here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/07/rio-tinto-executives-jailed-by-china.html. You'll note the original theory China was going on was that its "state secrets" had been stolen...
Why Is There a Debate Over Publishing Stolen Twitter Documents and Data?
Posted on August 10, 2009It's been a relatively slow week in the trade secret world - so we thought we'd blog about the ethical/legal implications of a news organization publishing data or documents that their source stole. As you can see from the link to the New York Times story, a hacker stole a bunch of data and documents from "Twitter...
Printer Cartriage Reseller Accuses Epson of Illegal Spying and Trade Secret Misappropriation
Posted on August 05, 2009Green Project Inc. alleges in a lawsuit filed July 27 in U.S. District Court in Oregon that Epson America Inc. and its parent, Japan-based Seiko Epson Corp., sent a company spy into the facility to gain access to trade secrets.The company also claims that Epson punished it and firms like it for reselling recycled Epson cartridges...
Judge from Eaton Aerospace Trade Secrets Case to Plead Guilty to Lying to FBI
Posted on July 31, 2009We 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...
Rio Tinto Executives Jailed By China - Accused of Theft of Trade Secrets
Posted on July 29, 2009This report by Bloomberg.com is fascinating - executives on Rio Tinto's negotiating team have apparently been arrested and jailed by China during tough negotiations over China's desire to purchase much-needed iron ore from Rio Tinto:Rio Tinto Group is known for playing hardball when negotiating iron-ore prices, prompting Japanese steelmakers to present the company with a faceless doll as a tribute during one round of talks...
Former Citadel Employees Defend Claiming "Trade Secrets? What Trade Secrets?"
Posted on July 28, 2009We first blogged about this case here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/07/citadel-investment-group-sues-three.htmlNow The Wall Street Journal is reporting that three former employees of Citadel Investment Group have filed a motion to dismiss the hedge-fund company's complaint against them, claiming their formation of a new trading firm didn't violate agreements they made with Citadel upon leaving the firm...
Doh!!! ClearOne Trade Secrets Defendant Loses At Trial, Drops His Attorney and Asks for Stay of Judgment - But Is Told "Sorry"
Posted on July 23, 2009We covered the ClearOne Communications trial victory and $9.7 million verdict against some of its former employees here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/04/clearone-clears-97-million-in-trade.html. It appears that one of those defendants, Lonny Bowers, fired his attorney and decided to take matters into his own hands to file a Rule 60 motion seeking to set aside or stay the judgment against him...
Military Rifle Designer Wins $1.8 Million in Trade Secrets Spat With Former Employee
Posted on July 22, 2009A federal jury awarded a West Bridgewater, Massachusetts based designer of products for small-arms weapons more than $1.8 million in damages in a lawsuit alleging theft of trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty.The lawsuit by the Atlantic Research Marketing Systems, or A...
China on Spy Charges: B**ch Set Me Up!
Posted on July 20, 2009From CNN.Money, a report on the statement from the government of China regarding the recent conviction of former Boeing engineer, Dongfan "Greg" Chung, on economic espionage charges."The allegation that a so-called Chinese person stole trade secrets in the United States and gave them to China is purely a fabrication made up out of ulterior motives," the foreign ministry said in a short statement...
$36 Million Trade Secret Verdict Loser, Luna Innovations, Files for Bankruptcy
Posted on July 20, 2009Trade secrets trials have consequences. We covered this $36 million trade secret verdict here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/06/post-trial-motions-filed-in-363-million.html.Now the defendant, Luna Innovations, has filed for bankruptcy protection in federal court in Virginia...
FORMER BOEING ENGINEER CONVICTED OF ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE
Posted on July 16, 2009From CNN, here's the full text of the Department of Justice press release:IN THEFT OF SPACE SHUTTLE SECRETS FOR CHINASANTA ANA, Calif. - A former Rockwell and Boeing engineer from Orange County, Calif., was remanded into custody this morning after a federal judge convicted him of charges of economic espionage and acting as an agent of the People's Republic of China, for whom he stole restricted technology and Boeing trade secrets, including information related to the Space Shuttle program and Delta IV rocket...
The Trade Secrets of Trading Profits Made in Milliseconds
Posted on July 15, 2009Fortune's William Cohan has penned an interesting piece on a hot topic in trade secrets circles right now: what are these code-based trade secrets that these people are alleged to be stealing from big outfits like Goldman Sachs and UBS? The answer, it appears, is computer code that enables these firms to make bags of cash trading faster and better than their competition...
First Goldman Sachs, Now UBS: Another Allegation of Departing Employee Trade Secret Theft of Source Code
Posted on July 14, 2009SecuritiesIndustry.com is reporting that Goldman Sachs is not the only Wall Street firm taking an ex-employee to court with the charge of theft of trade secrets in the form of valuable, proprietary trading code.Swiss bank UBS AG confirmed Monday that it filed papers in March charging three ex-employees with ?misappropriation of trade secrets...
Arcade-Game Software Theft Alleged - Former Owner of UltraCade Technologies Indicted
Posted on July 13, 2009The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that two men have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that they stole arcade-game software belonging to a San Jose company.David Russell Foley of Los Gatos and Michael Daddona were named in a 35-count indictment unsealed this week...
Citadel Investment Group Sues Three Former Employees for Noncompete Breach and Trade Secrets Misappropriation Risk
Posted on July 09, 2009Reuters is reporting that Citadel Investment Group, one of the world's most successful hedge fund firms, has today sued a former top executive in its highly successful quantitative trading unit and two others for setting up their own firm.Chicago-based Citadel, founded by 40-year-old billionaire Kenneth Griffin, said in a lawsuit filed on Thursday that Mikhail Malyshev, 40, and two other former employees had violated their non-compete clauses by starting their own firm, Teza Technologies LLC...
Lindsay Lohan Makes Trade Secrets News
Posted on July 08, 2009http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/07/08/Lohan_Accused_of_Swiping_Tan_Spray_Formula.htmCourthouse News Service is reporting that Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan has been sued for trade secret misappropriation.Lindsay Lohan "publicly proclaimed" that she invented a sunless secret" tanning spray, but she actually swiped the formula from White Wave International, the skin-care company claims in a complaint filed in federal court in Tampa, Florida...
Goldman Sachs Ex-Employee Accused of Stealing Trading Methodology Data and Codes
Posted on July 06, 2009http://blogs.reuters.com/commentaries/2009/07/05/a-goldman-trading-scandal/This could prove to be a whopper in the world of trade secret theft and international economic espionage. Reuters, and many other sources, are reporting that the FBI has arrested Sergey Aleynikov, a Russian immigrant living in New Jersey and a former employee of Goldman Sachs...
Abbott Laboratories Sues Departing Employee and New Employer, Alleging Inevitability of Trade Secret Misappropriation
Posted on June 30, 2009http://newsroom.law360.com/articlefiles/108249-Abbott%20v.%20Mancheski.pdfDefendant Susan Mancheski, a former Upper Midwest Regional Manager at Abbott and former member of and Regional Manager ("RM") Advisor to Abbott's Sales & Marketing Advisory Board, resigned her position with Abbott to join its direct competitor, Defendant ev3, Inc...
Economic Espionage at the Paint Factory
Posted on June 27, 2009From the Daily Herald of Arlington, Illinois, a report on an indictment from the ubiquitous U.S. Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, charging Arlington Heights resident David Yen Lee on five count of economic espionage based on stolen trade secrets he sought to divulge to a competitor of his former employer, paint company Valspar Corp...
Trade Secrets and Televangelism
Posted on June 25, 2009From the San Jose Mercury News, a story about a California lawsuit in which a California man has sued Georgia-based televangelist, Creflo Dollar (he?s the one pictured in the white suit), with stealing her ideas and trade secrets. According to the story, the lawsuit was filed by Devone Lawson of Marina del Rey who is seeking in excess of $10 million for breach of nondisclosure agreement, fraud, unjust enrichment, civil conspiracy, breach of contract, and misappropriation of trade secrets...
$1.6 Million Bad Faith Trade Secret Defense Attorney Fee Award Upheld in California Appellate Decision
Posted on June 22, 2009Readers of this blog might know that most states have adopted some version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act's Section 4 regarding attorney's fees: "If (i) a claim of misappropriation is made in bad faith, (ii) a motion to terminate an injunction is made or resisted in bad faith, or (iii) willful and malicious misappropriation exists, the court may award reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party...
FTC Lawsuit Results in Subpoenaed Trade Secret Info That Itself Might Get Subpoenaed in Another Case
Posted on June 16, 2009We first blogged about the Whole Foods trade secret subpoenas to competitors issue here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/12/grocery-secrets-whole-foods-obtains.html.Remember too that the FTC had fumbled with some trade secrets earlier in the matter, as we noted when another competitor objected to the subpoena: "The FTC accidentally disclosed confidential business information earlier in the case, while other sensitive information was given to a Whole Foods in-house lawyer, New Seasons said...
Men's Health Publisher Seeks to Protect its Trade Secrets in Florida Investigation
Posted on June 15, 2009http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=107815In an ongoing investigation into the sales and marketing practices of publisher Rodale, the Florida attorney general's office decided to make public the information it gathered...
Clorox Inevitable Disclosure Motion Denied - California Law Found Applicable - S.C. Johnson, Ironically, Cleans Up
Posted on June 12, 2009http://newsroom.law360.com/articlefiles/105858-Clorox.pdfThe Clorox Co. wanted a federal judge to keep SC Johnson from employing the man it has hired to be its new senior vice president of global product supply.Timothy Bailey resigned from Clorox in April, and was expected to start work with SCJ the first week of May...
Post-Trial Motions Filed in $36.3 Million Trade Secrets Case Won By Hansen Medical from Luna Innovations
Posted on June 10, 2009http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/207840This massive trade secrets case stemmed from a 2006 deal between Luna Innovations and Hansen Medical to work together to apply Luna's fiber-optic shape-sensing technology to Hansen's catheter medical device.The California jury found that Luna not only breached a contract it signed with Hansen to develop technology for a medical device, but that the company also shared Hansen's trade secrets with Intuitive Surgical Inc...
Upstate New York Beer Prices Are Trade Secret, Complaint Alleges
Posted on June 08, 2009http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20090605/BUSINESS/906050389/Grocery+dispute+likely+headed+to+civil+courtI have an admission to make as a co-author of this blog and the author of this piece - I lived in Ithaca, New York during law school and I drank alot of inexpensive beer while there...
Crazy "Oops" Voicemail Trade Secrets Case Dismissed After Eight Years for Lack of Standing
Posted on June 04, 2009We've blogged about this crazy case before: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-developments-in-marvell-trade.html and http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/04/marvell-case-screwing-up-voicemail.html.You'll recall that this exchange was reportedly captured on a voicemail inadvertently left on Jasmine Network's counsel's voicemail system by Marvell's attorneys:Kaushik Banerjee (the engineer): Who do they think they're working with?Matthew Gloss (the general counsel): They're f---ing amateurs...
CDI Energy Services Loses Trade Secrets Appeal in the Eighth Circuit
Posted on June 02, 2009Trade secrets misappropriation cases are routinely teed up for a preliminary injunction at the trial court level. Offended parties argue that they should not be forced to sit and watch a trade secret thief use and benefit from the stolen secrets - that an injunction should be issued to stop the thief in their tracks...
O'Melveny and Myers' David Almeling Argues for Federalization of Trade Secrets Law
Posted on June 01, 2009A friend of Womble Trade Secrets and fellow trade secrets litigator, David Almeling of the O'Melveny & Meyers firm in San Francisco, has written an interesting article that will be published in the upcoming issue of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal titled "Four Reasons to Enact a Federal Trade Secrets Act...
University Mailing Lists ? Public Records or Trade Secrets?
Posted on May 31, 2009An interesting article ? about an interesting conundrum ? from The Day in New London, Connecticut: are university donors? lists public records and therefore subject to disclosure to companies in the mailing list business?As a public policy matter, the answer seems easy...
Lockheed Martin Wins $37.28 Million Trade Secrets Verdict Against L-3
Posted on May 27, 2009http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124336346319555349.html#articleTabs%3DarticleAfter a three week trial, Lockheed Martin convinced a federal court jury in Atlanta that it suffered losses due to trade secrets theft by L-3 Communications. We blogged about this trade secrets trial here: http://wombletradesecrets...
Taiwanese Law Firm Tells Web-Site Engadget to Take Down Pictures of Sony PlayStation 3 Prototype
Posted on May 26, 2009http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/slim-ps3-update-mysterious-chinese-firm-issues-a-cease-and-desi/Those who follow this blog know that we've blogged over and over about alleged Chinese involvement in theft of trade secrets from others. Now comes a report from the website Engadget regarding a cease-and-desist letter they received from an unknown Taiwanese law firm telling Engadget they must take down the pictures of the new slim PS3 and keep the fact and content of the cease-and-desist demand confidential...
The Trade Secrets of Mosquito Nets - England and Wales High Court Zaps Defendant
Posted on May 21, 2009http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2009/657.htmlCiting only common law principles, oral contract and common sense, the England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division) has found a departed scientist liable for trade secret misappropriation of a former employer...
Mayo Clinic to Former Top Executive - Return Our Source Code and Trade Secrets
Posted on May 19, 2009Mayo Clinic and one of its former top executives are squaring off in federal court over medical records software.The case stems from Mayo's allegations that Dr. Peter Elkin took the core code from the program he helped develop and deleted all copies from Mayo computers...
Cupcake Trade Secrets Allegedly Stolen
Posted on May 12, 2009The Las Vegas area's trendy and fast-growing Cupcakery business is suing a California cupcake entrepreneur, charging she stole trade secrets and infringed on trademarks when she opened two gourmet cupcake shops there. You can look at the complaint here: http://media...
LET'S GO HURRICANES!!!
Posted on May 08, 2009Okay - this has nothing to do with trade secrets or law but the co-authors of WombleTradeSecrets are hockey fans and we're going to Game 4 tonight between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Boston Bruins at the RBC Center in Raleigh. The Hurricanes lead the best of 7 series right now 2-1...
New Developments in Marvell Trade Secrets Voice Mail
Posted on May 07, 2009Here?s how we wrote about it just over a year ago: There are dumb mistakes, and then there are really dumb mistakes. Four years ago Matthew Gloss, the general counsel of Marvell Semiconductor Inc., and two of his colleagues phoned the legal chief of a rival company, Jasmine Networks Inc...
Swedish Hacker Charged With Trade Secret Theft at Cisco, Data Theft at NASA
Posted on May 07, 2009Well, he allegedly did it in 2004 but . . .Philip Gabriel Pettersson, aka "Stakkato," 21, a Swedish national, was indicted today on intrusion and trade secret theft charges, announced the Justice Department's Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joseph P...
Massive Trade Secrets Case Pits Lockheed Martin Against L-3 Communications in Atlanta Courtroom
Posted on May 04, 2009According to The AmLaw Litigation Daily, a big trade secrets trial is set to begin in Atlanta federal court this week. Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the world, is seeking $689 million in compensatory and punitive damages from America's sixth-largest defense contractor, L-3 Communications, and its subsidiary L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to its line of marine patrol, anti-submarine aircraft...
"Oops! I did it again . . . " - Courtroom Again Closed in DVD Encryption Case on Trade Secrets Grounds
Posted on April 30, 2009We first blogged about this case here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/. Well, Judge Patel has again closed her courtroom to the public in this case that is examining the secrets of copying DVDs and their encryption."I think it's very clear from the licensing with respect to specifications the indepth nature of those specifications," Patel told Myers...
Starwood Hotels v. Hilton Hotels Trade Secret Complaint (pdf)
Posted on April 28, 2009AmLawDaily has a link to the Starwood Hotels trade secret misappropriation complaint against Hilton Hotels - click the link above to read this fascinating draft. Additionally, we note that the parties entered into a consent injunction that was filed with the court here: http://amlawdaily...
Federal Judge Closes Federal Courtroom in MPAA/RealNetworks Matter
Posted on April 27, 2009A federal judge sealed a courtroom last week after attorneys for the Motion Picture Association of America and another Hollywood group claimed that confidential information might be disclosed during testimony about DVD-encryption technology.U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel kicked the public out of the courtroom at around 2:30 p...
ClearOne Clears $9.7 Million in Trade Secrets Damages
Posted on April 23, 2009We've been covering this matter for a while: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/02/clearone-obtains-expanded-trade-secrets.html.A federal court in Utah has issued a Memorandum Decision and Order yesterday in favor of ClearOne Communications, Inc...
$36 Million Verdict in California Trade Secrets Case
Posted on April 22, 2009From Law.com, a story concerning a $36 million trade secrets verdict in favor of Hansen Medical against Luna Innovations after a three-week trial in San Jose, California.The jury found that Luna broke an agreement it had to help Hansen develop a robotic catheter and misused trade secrets to land a lucrative contract with a Hansen competitor, Intuitive Surgical Inc...
The Trade Secrets of Luxury Hotel Concept Allegedly Stolen: Starwood Hotels v. Hilton Hotels
Posted on April 17, 2009Hilton Hotels was sued by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., the third-largest U.S. lodging company, over claims it stole trade secrets to improve its luxury brands.The complaint, filed in federal court in New York, claims two former Starwood executives hired by Hilton stole information about Starwood?s W hotel brand to develop Hilton?s Denizen hotels...
Fourth Circuit Holds That Investigatory And Remedial Expenses May Be Recovered As "Economic Damages" In Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Cases
Posted on April 17, 2009From our sister blog, the North Carolina Appellate Blog, a story about a new Fourth Circuit case permitting investigatory and remedial expenses as ?economic damages? in cases under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The case A.V. v. iParadigms, LLC held that a claimant bringing a civil action under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U...
Game Maker Activision Sued Over "DJ Hero" Video Game
Posted on April 15, 2009A pair of indie gaming companies may have tossed a wrench into Activision?s plans to piggyback on the success of its Guitar Hero franchise with the upcoming "DJ Hero" game. Genius Products and Numark Industries, the two companies behind the as-yet-released "Scratch: The Ultimate DJ" game, have filed a lawsuit in California against Activision and developer 7 Studios for ?intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, conversion and misappropriation of trade secrets...
Rutgers' Ticketmaster Payments Trade Secrets?
Posted on April 14, 2009One of the fundamental qualities of a trade secret is that it is competitively sensitive - that the owner or holder of the trade secret enjoys a competitive advantage because it knows the trade secret but its competitors don't. But - who are the competitors of a state institution like Rutgers University? See story below: New Jersey officials will not say how much money state entities rake in from fees Ticketmaster charges sports fans and concertgoers...
FBI Investigator Calls Trade Secret Theft Involving Chinese National "An Act of Economic Violence"
Posted on April 13, 2009The rhetoric is heating up in the U.S. v. China battle over the protection of trade secrets and other intellectual property.A Chinese national living in the United States has been accused of stealing a software program from his former U.S. employer and selling a modified version to the Chinese government after being fired...
Reasonable Efforts to Maintain Secrecy ? Learning from the Bad Experiences of the Brits
Posted on April 13, 2009Virtually every trade secrets statute in the U.S. requires the owner of a trade secret to take ?efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.?Yet there?s not a lot of guidance about what that means or what is required. Well, we now have a good answer for what is not a reasonable effort...
Reid Elsevier Sues Hank Asher for Alleged Trade Secret Theft and Noncompete Breach
Posted on April 09, 2009Reed Elsevier, the Massachusetts-based parent of LexisNexis and Seisint, on Thursday filed a complaint in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, alleging that Asher is violating his non-compete agreement by starting a new company, TLFO, in Boca Raton.In 2004, Asher sold Seisint, his second major database company, to LexisNexis for several hundred million dollars...
Are Standardized Tests Trade Secrets of the School District? So Argues Cincinnati
Posted on April 08, 2009If a group of Cincinnati school teachers prevails in a case now before the Ohio Supreme Court, enterprising students might be able to ace their tests simply by using the state's public-records law to get a copy of the test before it's given.So contends the Cincinnati Public Schools, which is fighting the teachers' demands for copies of semester exams given to ninth graders...
California Uniform Trade Secrets Act Preempts Other Tort Claims
Posted on April 07, 2009The link above is to an interesting piece authored by Patrick Premo and Julie Nokleberg of the Fenwick & West law firm. They identify a recently entered California decision holding that the CUTSA preempted plaintiff's state law claims for breach of confidence, interference with contract and unfair competition because they were "based on the same nucleus of facts as the misappropriation of trade secrets claim...
Place in The "This Ain't Good" Folder - Georgia Judge Says "We'll Talk About Incarceration" In Trade Secrets Case
Posted on April 01, 2009Saying he believed a Gainesville tax preparation company willfully misappropriated trade secrets of H&R Block and ignored a court order not to use them, a judge fined Paramount Tax Services more than $12,000 on January 31st for contempt of court.Paramount Tax Services owner Chris Hardy is expected to appeal the fine, but Judge David Burroughs told him he still expected the money to be paid to H&R Block by Friday...
Former Congressional Investigator Talks About Trade Secret Protections in Congressional Investigations
Posted on March 31, 2009John Sopko is formerly a counsel to Congressional committees and currently a partner in the Akin Gump law firm. His bio can be found here: http://www.akingump.com/jsopko/. The following exchange from a Metropolitan Corporate Counsel piece captures Mr...
Chicago-Area Valspar Employee Arrested By FBI For Suspected Trade Secret Theft - Chinese Connection
Posted on March 30, 2009David Yen Lee, 52, was arrested at his home Thursday and ordered held without bail Friday in federal court in Chicago, the FBI said. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the felony offense. Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen, worked for Minneapolis-based Valspar Corp...
The Trade Secrets of 9/11: Federal Court Considers Arguments Related to Sealed 9/11 Documents
Posted on March 25, 2009A Manhattan federal court will hear oral arguments today on whether more than a million pages of documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks should remain sealed.Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the United States District Court in New York City will hear arguments from The New York Times and the Reporters Committee, as well as victims? families and attorneys for the aviation industry defendants...
Senator Grassley Weighs In on FDA Trade Secret Issues
Posted on March 24, 2009We reported here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2007/03/trade-secrets-and-fda.html about the warning sent out by Acting Commissioner Torti to employees of the FDA regarding their duty to protect certain information the FDA obtains regarding, among other things, private companies' trade secrets...
Trade Secrets and Army Contracts
Posted on March 23, 2009An interesting story from the Fulton County Daily Report about a case pending in the Northern District of Georgia, Southern Coach v. Dep't of the Army, concerning the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), trade secrets, and the general issue of transparency in government contracting...
New Trade Secrets Movie Starring Julia Roberts
Posted on March 20, 2009Well sorta. According to film reviewer Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the new movie Duplicity concerns "corporate espionage - the pinching of trade secrets and lucrative new formulae." Rea, it seems, misses the days when espionage in movies meant menacing codes, nuclear weapons, and deadly toxins...
US FDA Deputy Commissioner Warns FDA Employees "No Leaks of Trade Secrets"
Posted on March 20, 2009U.S. Food and Drug Administration Deputy Commissioner Frank Torti is warning employees against leaking companies' trade secrets, a memo indicates.Commissioner Torti's memo, which was obtained by the In Vivo blog (see here: http://www.windhover.com/pdf/3-13-09_pm_3-52_Torti_Agency-WIde_Email_about_Confidential_Information...
Former Employee of Harland Robertson Co. Indicted for Alleged Trade Secret Theft
Posted on March 19, 2009A former Brighton, Michigan man was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud, theft of trade secrets from a Livonia, Michigan company. He was also charged with making false statements to federal investigators.Thomas McKinney, 38, of Spring, Texas, was arrested near Houston by federal agents, said U...
Audio Story on Internet Security Threats
Posted on March 18, 2009From National Public Radio's On the Media, an audio report concerning the Internet which is turning 40-years-old. The story outlines the cyber-threats to the Web going forward. Among other interesting things, former national security advisor Richard Clarke tells of espionage by both the Russians and Chinese hacking into computers at the Pentagon in recent months...
Boston-Based Telecom Firm Alleges Trade Secret Theft By Employee
Posted on March 18, 2009Granite Telecommunications filed a complaint in Massachusetts federal court last week against Stephen Levee, a former employee in Granite?s Atlanta office who was fired last month, and Telesource Consulting LLC, a firm that Granite claims was using the information to divert existing and potential customers away from Granite...
XpertUniverse Sues Cisco For Allegedly Stealing Trade Secrets
Posted on March 16, 2009This just in - XpertUniverse has sued Cisco Systems for allegedly stealing its trade secrets related to XpertUniverse's "Expert on Demand" offerings. A copy of the complaint filed in Delaware federal court is attached above. We'll keep an eye on this one for you...
Sun Microsystems Denied Summary Judgment in Trade Secrets Case
Posted on March 13, 2009Versata Software accused Sun Microsystems of patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation related to product configuration software. The case is filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Versata is no stranger to litigation: http://austin...
Are There Risks in Publishing Allegations of Trade Secrets Theft?
Posted on March 12, 2009If you click on the link above, you'll see that Atrua has published a press release regarding its allegation that one of its competitors, a company called Authentec, has misappropriated Atrua trade secrets on multiple occasions. The press release was apparently made by Atrua's Director of Marketing and is published via a site called "WebWire...
Kansas Jury Awards $17.5 Million Trade Secrets Verdict
Posted on March 11, 2009A Manhattan, Kansas electronics design and manufacturing company has been awarded nearly $17.5 million in actual and punitive damages in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, fraud, fraudulent concealment and misappropriation of trade secrets after a deal with a French company to make a propeller deicing system dissolved...
Deutsche Bank Suing Departed Financial Advisor Now Employed with Morgan Stanley - Alleging Trade Secrets Theft
Posted on March 10, 2009Law360 is reporting that the U.S. investment and securities arm of Germany's Deutsche Bank is suing a former employee it claims stole confidential information and poached two assistants when he took a job with rival Morgan Stanley on Friday.This suit comes close on the heels of a suit filed by Merrill Lynch against Deutsche Bank for poaching 12 senior bankers from Merrill Lynch: http://www...
Johnson & Johnson Subsidiary Sues Bausch & Lomb For "Flagrant Pirating" of Employees and Theft of Trade Secrets
Posted on March 09, 2009Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Vistakon Pharmaceuticals LLC asked a federal judge Thursday to put an end to Bausch & Lomb Inc.?s ?flagrant pirating? of Vistakon?s sales force, days after filing suit over the alleged wrongdoing.Vistakon urged Judge Timothy J...
Trade Secrets and Tires ? Arrest in Topeka in Economic Espionage Case
Posted on March 09, 2009From the Kansas City Star, another warning shot concerning economic espionage. The paper reports that two engineers from Wyko Tire Technology Inc. of Greenback, Tennessee, Clark Alan Roberts, 46, and Sean Edward Howley, 38, were arrested on March 6 and charged with conspiring to steal trade secrets from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co...
Merrill Lynch Accuses Deutsche Bank of Employee Raid and Trade Secret Misappropriation
Posted on March 06, 2009Portfolio Media, Inc. is reporting that investment giant Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. is seeking $100 million in damages from rival investment firm Deutsche Bank, claiming Deutsche Bank compromised its trade secrets when it improperly hired 12 former employees from Merrill's financial institutions group last February...
Nokia Lobbies for Intra-Corporate E-Mail Review Law to Bolster Trade Secret Retention
Posted on February 25, 2009As many of you know, private employers in the United States routinely reserve the right to examine their employees' e-mails sent from, and received on, company computers. They do so under a general theory that employees of private companies do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in communications contained on company-owned computer systems...
If You Buy a Product Made With Stolen Trade Secrets, Are You a Misappropriator?
Posted on February 19, 2009The National Law Journal has reported on a fascinating issue that is cranking its way through the California appellate courts - are customers who buy products made with misappropriated trade secrets liable for being misappropriators themselves? The issue is usually an academic one - rarely would a victim of trade secret misappropriation sue customers of the misappropriator...
ConnectU vs. Facebook Unredacted Trade Secrets Settlement
Posted on February 18, 2009In a follow-up on a case we first reported on in July 2007, College News is reporting that inadequate redaction of a .pdf document containing settlement information has resulted in the disclosure of otherwise confidential terms.Specifically, the inadvertently disclosed portions revealed that ConnectU received somewhere between from $31 million and $65 million to settle its lawsuit--and that Facebook?s internal valuation was a hefty $3...
McAfee Estimates $1 Trillion in Trade Secret Thefts in 2008
Posted on February 17, 2009The theft of trade secrets cost businesses about $1 trillion last year, with employees committing many of the offenses, according to research commissioned by McAfee Inc.In a survey of information-technology executives, 42 percent of respondents said laid-off workers were the biggest threat caused by the economic slump...
30 Months in the Hole -- Metaldyne Trade Secrets Sentence
Posted on February 14, 2009That's what they give you, in Michigan at least.From MLive.com, a follow-up to our story from last September about guilty pleas in a case involving the sale of trade secrets.Anne Lockwood, who worked as a vice president for Metaldyne Corp. of Plymouth, Michigan, was ordered to the prison for 30 months for selling the company's trade secrets to a Chinese competitor...
Islamorada Marine Services Worker Accused of Stealing Secrets - Providing to Boyfriend
Posted on February 13, 2009Apparently down in the Florida Keys they prefer to use the local sheriff, instead of the FBI, to investigate trade secret theft.An employee of a marine services company on Plantation Key is accused of stealing trade secrets from her workplace and giving them to her boyfriend, a potential competitor of the business...
TEKsystems Prevails in Trade Secrets Case Against Competitor Modis
Posted on February 12, 2009Technical staffing company, TEKsystems announces that it has prevailed in a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against its competitor Modis. The court awarded TEKsystems $450,000 for misappropriation of trade secrets concluding that Modis used information found in TEKsystems' proprietary database with knowledge that it came from TEKsystems, that the information constituted trade secrets, and that Modis refused to return the trade secret information or to delete it from its systems...
CA, Inc. (formerly Computer Associates) Settles Trade Secrets Case with Rocket Software
Posted on February 11, 2009Software provider CA, Inc. this morning said it has reached a settlement with Rocket Software of Newton, Massachusetts, a competitor in the database administration software business, in connection with a 2007 lawsuit lodged by CA charging Rocket with intellectual property theft and misappropriation...
International Rectifier's RICO Case Dismissed in California
Posted on February 06, 2009We first covered this case in our blog post here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/search?q=international+rectifier. International Rectifier had accused its former CEO, Alexander Lidow, of engaging in a violation of RICO by stealing the company's trade secrets in an effort to bolster a newly-created competitive company...
ClearOne Obtains Expanded Trade Secrets Injunction
Posted on February 05, 2009An order was issued by the federal court yesterday, in favor of ClearOne Communications, Inc. expanding the scope of a previously issued preliminary injunction order, and prohibiting WideBand Solutions, Inc., its principals, and others acting in concert with WideBand, from (among other things) the use, sale or marketing of ClearOne's trade secrets and WideBand's infringing products found to use these trade secrets...
Trade Secrets and the Mole at Microsoft
Posted on February 01, 2009From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an almost bizarre story concerning the CEO of a software company, Ancora Technologies, who went to work for Microsoft claiming that Ancora was no longer in business. Not only was that apparently not true, but his reason for joining Microsoft was to obtain evidence for a patent suit brought by Ancora against three Microsoft customers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba America Information Systems...
Federal Indictments in Eaton Aerospace-Frisby Trade Secrets Case
Posted on January 29, 2009From the Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger a story that follows up on our earlier postings (going back to 2006) here, here, here and here concerning the Eaton Aerospace-Frisby trade secrets case.A third criminal indictment has now been filed against five former Eaton Aerospace engineers on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and possession of trade secrets...
IBM and Papermaster (er, Apple) Settle - Papermaster Permitted to Commence Work for Apple in April, 2009
Posted on January 28, 2009Apple just announced that 25-year IBM vet Mark Papermaster will start work as head of hardware engineering for the iPhone and iPod effort on April 24. According to Apple, Papermaster and IBM have settled the legal spat that occurred when Big Blue sued him for violating the non-compete clause of his contract in taking the job with Apple late last year...
SkinMedica Files Trade Secrets Action Against Histogen Alleging Theft of Cosmeceutical Ideas
Posted on January 23, 2009We'd never heard of the term "cosmeceuticals" before so we thought we'd let you in on this story:San Diego-based SkinMedica, which develops cosmeceuticals for the skin care market, said today that it has filed a patent and trade secret action against competitors Histogen,Inc...
Big Alabama Trade Secrets Verdict Upheld
Posted on January 23, 2009The Birmingham News is reporting that Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Robert Smith has upheld a verdict against Ineos Americas LLC and Ineos Phenol in a case brought Dr. Sven Peter Mannsfeld.Mannsfeld claimed that the chemical companies stole his trade secrets for a process that transformed some hazardous waste into valuable manufacturing ingredients...
International Rectifier Sues Former CEO For Theft of Trade Secrets of Gallium Nitride
Posted on January 19, 2009International Rectifier has filed a federal suit accusing Alexander Lidow of engaging in an ongoing criminal enterprise ? also known as a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization, or RICO ? by stealing information, intellectual property and technology related to the company?s secret research on a superconducting material that could become the future of semiconductor power management technology...
Trade Secrets of the Grocers
Posted on January 19, 2009From kgw.com in Portland, Oregon, a story arising out of natural food marketer, Whole Foods, and its attempt to defend itself against Federal Trade Commission claims that its purchase of Wild Oats Markets created a natural foods monopoly.According to the story, after months of battling to keep its trade secrets under wraps, New Seasons Market had agreed to hand over some operational information to rival grocer Whole Foods Market...
The "Trade Secrets" of the Use of TARP Funds
Posted on January 13, 2009$350 billion has essentially been sent from the United States to banks of all shapes and sizes. The theory of the investments was that the government was going to provide banks liquidity that they could use to lend money and get our economy going again...
Litigation in India Over Trade Secrets Risks - Ever Heard of an RS 501CR Injunction?
Posted on January 08, 2009First, the Chinese engaged in a crackdown of copyright pirates who were allegedly copying Communist era DVDs that the government sold for a profit. Now, we learn that India actually has an injunction aimed at employee defectors - an RS 501 CR injunction...
Pfizer Loses $38 Million Trade Secret Jury Verdict in California - Punitive Damages Phase Still to Come
Posted on December 24, 2008A Santa Clara County jury has ordered drugmaker Pfizer to pay $38 million in compensatory damages to a leading medical research nonprofit for stealing trade secrets to develop a pain relief drug.The Superior Court jury reached the verdict Monday in a 2004 lawsuit filed against Pfizer by the San Bruno nonprofit Ischemia Research and Education Foundation...
Memphis ?VeinViewer? Trade Secrets Case
Posted on December 23, 2008From the Memphis Daily News, a story concerning Memphis-based Luminetx Corp. which is accusing two former executives of allegedly taking trade secrets to a company that it is suing for patent infringement called AccuVein LLC.AccuVein, based in Cold Spring Harbor, N...
Grocery Secrets - Whole Foods Obtains Competitor's Competitively Sensitive Info
Posted on December 22, 2008In 2007, Whole Foods acquired Wild Oats in an acquisition that many questioned on legal grounds. Well, now the FTC has brought on action challenging the legality of that acquisition/merger and Whole Foods is attempting to defend itself by subpoenaeing the records of OTHER companies in the business footprint...
Fed Refuses to Disclose Who's Getting What - Claims Trade Secrets Involved
Posted on December 12, 2008The Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.Bloomberg filed suit Nov. 7 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act requesting details about the terms of 11 Fed lending programs, most created during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression...
MySpace Suicide Results in Prosecution and Conviction Under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Posted on December 11, 2008Lori Drew's was a suburban housewife whose daughter was friends with a certain Megan Meier. Drew's daughter and Megan Meier had a falling out that didn't sit well with Mrs. Drew - so she hatched a plan to create a fake MySpace young man who would communicate with Megan Meier...
Actress Kate Hudson "Sent Packing" Back to State Court in Trade Secrets Case
Posted on December 10, 2008We first blogged about this case here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html. The U.S. District Court ordered today that Kate Hudson and David Babaii for WildAid LLC respond to 220 Laboratories' lawsuit as it was originally filed against them...
China Says "Show Us How You Protect That Stuff"
Posted on December 08, 2008The Associated Press is reporting that the Chinese government is stirring trade tensions with Washington with a plan to require foreign computer security technology to be submitted for government approval, in a move that might require suppliers to disclose business secrets...
IBM Seeks Discovery from Apple - Steve Jobs to Be Deposed?
Posted on December 04, 2008The IBM/Papermaster lawsuit is getting hot.ComputerWorld is reporting that IBM has asked for information from several unnamed senior officials at Apple as part of the discovery process in the lawsuit to block a former executive from joining Apple, according to court documents made public Monday...
$44,000 Sanction Against Attorney and Client Upheld in California Trade Secrets Case
Posted on December 01, 2008Law.com is reporting that a California appellate court has upheld a $44,000 sanction against an attorney and her client in a matter where documents filed under seal were inadvertently placed in the public case file and then used by the attorney and client in an attempt to prove that they weren't secret any longer...
Judge Karas: "Inadvertent Disclosure of IBM's Trade Secrets to Apple Is a Risk"
Posted on November 25, 2008ComputerWorld is reporting that the previously sealed opinion of United States District Court Judge Kenneth Karas has been unsealed and that the opinion and order are predicated on the idea that Mark Papermaster could, without any improper intentions, inevitably or inadvertently disclose IBM's trade secrets concerning semiconductors and microprocessors to Apple...
Fourth Circuit Affirms Denial of Trade Secrets Preliminary Injunction
Posted on November 25, 2008Technology Partners, Inc. v. Hart, No. 08-1651 (4th Cir. Nov. 4, 2008), represents an illustrative example of how preliminary injunction practice works in the Fourth Circuit, particularly as it relates to trade secrets claims.The fact pattern is a familiar one: the defendant was a former employee of the plaintiff, TPI, a software development company for healthcare providers, especially radiologists...
Lubrizol Trade Secrets Thief Gets 19 Months
Posted on November 24, 2008U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver sentenced former Lubrizol employee Dr. Kyung Kim last week to 19 months in prison. We first started following this case in this post: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/04/lubrizol-trade-secrets-allegedly-stolen...
FBI takes new approach to bust foreign spies on US soil
Posted on November 24, 2008An interesting report (video and text) from Texas Cable News about the FBI?s new approach to economic espionage. The article starts: ?Residents of a quiet neighborhood in New Orleans learned a spy was living among them in February. That month, the FBI raided the home of Tai Shen Kuo, an intelligence-gatherer for the People?s Republic of China...
Duke Energy Refund Data Claimed to Be Trade Secret - Ohio Supreme Court Considering Matter
Posted on November 20, 2008Duke Energy sells electricity in Ohio. They sell that electricity to individuals and companies. Some of those companies are BIG users of electricity. As electricity is a regulated utility, rate increases are effected by political pressures. Big companies routinely have help when political pressures are in play...
Indictments Handed Down in Alleged Trade Secret Theft from Lubrizol
Posted on November 18, 2008William J. Edwards, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, today announced that an Indictment was filed charging Sang Ho Shin, Dong Sik Kim, and Yeon Hee Lee with one count of trade secrets conspiracy, and two counts each of theft of trade secrets...
Judge Mandates $3 Million Bond in IBM v. Papermaster Case
Posted on November 17, 2008Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 65, a party that obtains a preliminary injunction against another must post a bond with the clerk of court that will protect the enjoined party from damages they might incur if it is later shown that the court's injunction should not have been issued...
Invista Sues DuPont, Rhodia in Delaware Chancery Court for Trade Secrets Theft
Posted on November 14, 2008Koch Industries Inc.'s Invista unit sued French chemicals maker Rhodia SA in Delaware state court for theft and misappropriation of a chemical process technology used to make a type of resin.The suit comes two weeks after a federal judge tossed a case filed in New York against Rhodia and DuPont Co...
$10 Million Verdict in Utah Trade Secrets Case
Posted on November 11, 2008From the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, a story concerning a $10 million trade secrets jury verdict in favor of ClearOne Communications Inc., a developer of audio and video conferencing systems. The verdict included $3.5 million in damages and $7 million in exemplary damages...
Ten Battle-Tested Rules for Communicating Well in Hard Times
Posted on November 10, 2008Okay, so it?s a little off-the-topic. Nevertheless, we thought folks might be interested in this article by our colleague Henry Fawell in our firm?s Strategic Communications Industry Group. It deals with the topic generally, but imagine having to communicate to the media that your company had just suffered a massive trade secrets theft that imperiled the company?s future...
IBM Obtains TRO From Federal Court Ordering Former Employee to Stop Working for Apple
Posted on November 07, 2008YOU'LL READ IT HERE FIRST - IBM has received an extraordinary TRO from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ordering former executive employee Mark Papermaster to immediately cease his employment with Apple until further order of the court...
Former Intel Employee Charged With $1 Billion Trade Secrets Theft
Posted on November 07, 2008The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a former Intel Corp. engineer has been charged with stealing trade secrets worth $1 billion from the chip maker while he worked for rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts alleged this week in a five-count indictment that Biswamohan Pani, 33 years old, illegally downloaded more than a dozen confidential documents from Intel's computer system in June...
Tesla Motors Loses Trade Secrets Suit Against Fisker Automotive
Posted on November 06, 2008We first reported about the Tesla Motors suit against Fisker Automotive here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/04/electric-sports-car-maker-tesla-motors.html. Well, an arbitrator has ruled on the case - and made some aggressive findings critical of Tesla Motors' claims and the lack of support for the the allegations...
IBM Executive Noncompete Agreement at Issue in Departure for Apple
Posted on November 03, 2008http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/images/papermaster2.pdfMark Weintraub has a ComputerWorld blog and has posted a copy of the Papermaster noncompetition clause that is at issue in the brand new IBM/Papermaster case that involves Mr. Papermaster's new employment with Apple...
Federal Judge Dismisses Invista's Trade Secrets Case Against DuPont, Rhodia
Posted on October 31, 2008Trade secrets claims are generally matters covered by state, not federal, law. State law matters are routinely heard in state court - except when there is a diversity of citizenship between the parties and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. In diversity cases, corporations are "citizens" of both their state of incorporation and where their principal place of business is located...
IBM Sues Top Executive to Stop Migration to Apple
Posted on October 31, 2008IBM is suing one of its top executives, a server guru who is trying to take a job with Apple, where he would be working closely with CEO Steve Jobs.Mark Papermaster, a 26-year veteran of IBM, has knowledge of "significant and highly confidential IBM trade secrets" that would "irreparably harm" the company if he is allowed to work for Apple, IBM alleges in a suit filed in United States District Court in Manhattan on Oct...
Stylish Trade Secrets?
Posted on October 28, 2008From Women?s Wear Daily, a story concerning federal charges against two former employees of fashion trade show organizer ENK International with conspiracy Monday after the pair allegedly tried to steal confidential business information about retail buyers and trade show guests...
"So Good . . . So Good . . . Cause I Got You!" - The Trade Secrets of the James Brown Estate
Posted on October 24, 2008Freaky Friday here, folks. We read with interest the claim of the Trustees for the Estate of The Godfather of Soul - James Brown. They claim that releasing tax returns for James Brown will reveal trade secrets of the Estate. Huh?Apparently, a settlement has been reached with the lion's share of Brown's many children and former lovers and spouses...
Did Brett Favre Misappropriate the Packers' Trade Secrets?
Posted on October 23, 2008Admission #1: one of the authors of this blog grew up in Detroit and suffered miserably while watching the Detroit Lions.Admission #2: long ago, this same author publicly gave up hope on the Detroit Lions but privately watches their games.Admission #3: he continues to be embarrassed by the Detroit Lions...
7 Year Trade Secrets Theft Conviction Reversed by Texas Court of Appeals
Posted on October 23, 2008The Texas Court of Appeals in the sixth district handed down the opinion Oct. 17, acquitting Frank McClain Jr. of stealing trade secrets from his former Lufkin employer, Didrikson and Associates, and throwing out his seven-year prison sentence. Interestingly, they not only reversed the conviction but have ordered an entry of acquittal in the matter - such that McClain cannot be retried in the matter...
To Catch an Electronic Thief
Posted on October 15, 2008An interesting article in the Legal Tech Newsletter by Ken Stasiak and Dave Kennedy, two consultants with SecureState LLC, an information security assessment and protection firm, concerning what to do if you think your company has been targeted by someone stealing electronic data...
Tough Economic Climate Puts Companies at Greater Risk of Trade Secret Theft
Posted on October 15, 2008The attached link yields an interesting online piece from COMPUTERWORLD Security. The piece's angle is that tough times create greater risk of loss of trade secrets. They say:"As it is, one of the biggest threats to corporate data and systems traditionally has come from insiders, who with their privileged access to data and systems, have the potential ability do more accidental or malicious damage than even the outside attacker...
Too Small To Protect Trade Secrets?
Posted on October 08, 2008InfoWorld has a blog that we read sometimes and this recent blog posting hit a couple of points we've opined about in the past. The blogger didn't identify the company they work for - but they noted that they'd persistently identified trade secret loss as a major risk for the company...
Trade Secrets and the New Financial Landscape?
Posted on October 07, 2008Suffice it to say that we all know that the world has changed and is changing as a result of the financial meltdown. Just what it means for trade secrets and the issues covered on this blog is anyone's guess at this point.Nevertheless, for your edification, we are linking to a piece prepared by one of our colleagues concerning "What Banks, Financial Institutions, Investors And Service Providers Need To Know About The Emergency Economic Stabilization Provisions of H...
Taiwan Semiconductor Manucturing Company Settles UniRAM Trade Secrets Matters
Posted on October 06, 2008Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reached a settlement agreement with UniRAM Technology to settle a dispute regarding trade secrets alleged by UniRAM, according to a TSMC filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE). No financial details were disclosed...
Coin Dealers Says Customer Lists and Marketing Strategies are Trade Secrets Stolen By Former Employee
Posted on October 01, 2008The suits filed by or against rare coin dealers in recent years could fill up even the largest of penny jars. The newest suit, The American Eagle Reserve LLC vs. Justin A. O'Neal, was filed Sept. 4 in Jefferson County District Court. Dozens of suits involving coin companies have been filed in the county the last year alone...
Scientist Accused of Illegally Selling Rocket Technology to China
Posted on September 25, 2008More from the Annals of Chinese Economic Espionage:From the Associated Press and our sister state, the Commonwealth of Virginia, comes a story regarding Shu Quan-Sheng, a scientist who heads a high-tech company in Newport News, who has been indicted on charges of illegally selling rocket technology to China and offering bribes to Chinese officials...
Guilty Plea in Metaldyne Trade Secrets Theft
Posted on September 16, 2008From the Associated Press via the Chicago Tribune, a story concerning three ex-employees of auto parts maker, Metaldyne, who entered a guilty plea for stealing trade secrets for . . . the Chinese.The pleas were entered Monday, September 15, by Anne Lockwood; her husband, Michael Haehnel, both of Rockford, Illinois; and Fuping Liu, of Flushing, N...
Ex-Intel Employee Accused of Misappropriating Intel Trade Secrets
Posted on September 15, 2008In a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, the FBI alleged that Biswahoman Pani of Worcester copied a host of confidential Intel documents, including 13 "top secret" company files containing highly sensitive design plans for future processor chips. In the complaint, filed in late August in US District Court in Boston, FBI Special Agent Timothy Russell of the bureau's Boston computer crime squad said in an affidavit that more than 100 pages of sensitive Intel documents, as well as 19 computer-aided-design drawings, were found in a search of Pani's house conducted on July 1...
Motorola Sues RIM for Employee Piracy and Trade Secrets Threats
Posted on September 10, 2008Motorola is suing rival handset manufacturer Research in Motion after it claimed that company has been poaching its staff. The lawsuit, filed last week, says that RIM lured away some 40 of its employees in Florida since the beginning of this year.In the paperwork, Motorola says that RIM is violating a non-solicitation contract the two companies signed when Motorola announced plans to spin off its handset business as a separate company...
Massachusetts Jury Says Former Employee and New Employer Did Not Steal STR Holdings' Trade Secrets for Solar Modules
Posted on September 08, 2008A solar supply company based in Connecticut that plans a $300 million initial public offering lost an intellectual property case in a Massachusetts court last week, raising new questions about its vulnerability to competitors that seek to use its technology...
Nobel Biocare Receives $2 Million Settlement from Keystone Dental
Posted on September 05, 2008Swiss-based Nobel Biocare has settled an unfair competition and trade secrets misappropriation lawsuit against U.S. competitor Keystone Dental and will get $2 million as well as certain guarantees regarding proprietary material."The settlement terms provide for Keystone Dental to pay $2 million to Nobel Biocare and that Keystone Dental not hire or solicit any current Nobel Biocare employee through February 1, 2009," the world's largest maker of dental implants said in a statement...
$57.5 Million Trade Secrets (Default) Judgment in North Carolina
Posted on September 03, 2008From the Raleigh News & Observer, and right in our backyard, news that a North Carolina judge has granted Durham bio-pharmaceutical company, Serenex, a $57.5 million default judgment against Chinese businesses for corporate espionage and stolen trade secrets...
Reverse Engineering Software
Posted on September 03, 2008From develop, a website for European game developers, a short but thoughtful article concerning the right to engage in reverse engineering and the associated perils of outsourcing.It's in the context of games, but applies more generally to any sort of software code.
Lawyers and Competitive Intelligence
Posted on September 02, 2008Although it doesn't address trade secrets directly, the National Law Journal has an interesting article on gathering competitive intelligence and how legal ethics might impede wide-open intelligence gathering by lawyers.The article raises interesting questions:"Experts agree it is unethical to misrepresent one's status or position to obtain information...
Kate Hudson Sued for Allegedly Misappropriating the Formula for Taming Flyaway Hair
Posted on August 26, 2008That's right - this is WombleTradeSecrets' first foray into alleged trade secret theft by a Hollywood celebrity. The complaint is attached in the link above.A U.S. hair products laboratory says actress Kate Hudson and her partner, celebrity stylist David Babaii, misappropriated its formula for taming flyaway hair...
Apple iPhone Trade Secrets Cause Buzz in Programming Community
Posted on August 25, 2008The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the software development kit that Apple Inc. distributed to programmers bound them to not discuss the process of creating programs for the iPhone. Companies typically waive such legal restrictions once the product in question launches, but Apple didn't...
$60 Million Trade Secrets Verdict Announced in Utah
Posted on August 20, 2008The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that American National Insurance Co. will challenge a $60 million verdict awarded by a Utah jury this month to a rival company in a suit over the defection of agents.James Pozzi, senior executive vice president with the Galveston, Texas-based company, said the punitive damages verdict - which was based on a claim that American National poached Farm Bureau Insurance Co...
Chemical Biggies in Trade Secrets Spat
Posted on August 18, 2008Dow Jones, via CNN.money, reports on a trade secrets actions in federal court in the Southern District of New York between Koch Industries subsidiary, Invista, and DuPont and Rhodia. The claims relate to alleged theft of Invista's trade secrets concerning proprietary technology for the production of adiponitrile, a chemical used in the manufacture of nylon...
IDX Media Claims Former Executive Stole Their Trade Secrets
Posted on August 14, 2008A California company that supplies data application systems to real estate agents is suing a former executive for violating trade secrets.IDX Media LLC of Sebastopol, Calif., claims its former vice president for product development, Daniel Evans of Belleville, solicited multiple clients to end their work with IDX and switch to a new company Evans planned to form...
Another Public/Private Hybrid Trade Secrets Issue
Posted on August 13, 2008Duke Energy has been sued by a former employee who apparently claims that he was terminated for making an issue about the legality of payments made by Duke Energy to large customers. Duke Energy is now arguing that the legality or illegality of those payments is a matter for the Ohio Supreme Court to consider...
Chinese Economic Espionage -- The Mistress is Sentenced
Posted on August 06, 2008From the AP via Google, a follow up to our earlier post here, concerning an economic espionage case against a Chinese national, Yu Xin Kang, convicted of aiding and abetting the earlier-convicted Tai Shen Kuo. She was Kuo's mistress.According to prosecutors in the Northern District of Virginia, between March 2007 and February, Kuo obtained secrets on U...
More Public-Private Trade Secret Disputes - This Time PETA is Involved
Posted on August 01, 2008The clarionledger.com is reporting the Iams Company's records from seven years of pet food research at Mississippi State University are not public documents, the state Supreme Court has ruled.In 2006, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued Mississippi State University...
More Public-Private Trade Secret Disputes - This Time in Helena, Montana
Posted on July 31, 2008The authors of the WombleTradeSecrets (um, that's us) are starting to see more and more disputes of the type we are reporting on in this post - private companies providing information to public entities for some public/private contracting purpose AND THEN the press or consumer advocacy group or environmental group seeks access to that information via statute or law that permits access to the same...
Settlement in Motorola Trade Secrets Case That Had $23 Million Sanction Issued In It
Posted on July 30, 2008We've blogged about this case before: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2007/04/motorola-ordered-to-pay-229-million-in.htmlWell, law.com is reporting that the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida trade secrets case brought by SPS Technologies against Motorola has settled.
Oracle v. SAP Trade Secrets Case Getting Messier
Posted on July 29, 2008We've blogged this case before: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2007/09/oracle-v-sap-trade-secrets-case-could.html#links.The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Oracle is attempting to file an amended complaint that alleges SAP Board members were well aware a company they were acquiring was misappropriating Oracle's trade secrets - but did nothing to stop the practice...
Happy Birthday -- Sort Of -- to the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act
Posted on July 29, 2008Saturday, July 26, was the 19th Anniversary of the first indictment under the Federal Computer Fraud & Abuse Act, passed earlier in 1986. Robert T. Morris a Harvard graduate and a graduate student at Cornell, developed the first widely spread Internet virus, and the first worm virus...
Honeywell Sues Akebono and Two Former Employees for Trade Secrets Theft
Posted on July 28, 2008On July 24, 2008, Honeywell International sued Akebono Corporation, Akebono Brake Industry Co., Ltd. and Sunil Kesavan and Ximming Shao for misappropriating trade secrets that relate to the making of fiction materials for automotive brake pads.Honeywell claims that a secret process one of its employees designed for the making of automative brake pad materials has been maintained as a trade secret from 1996 until the present...
Motorola Sues Former Executive Now With Apple's iPhone Team
Posted on July 22, 2008This is a story that may be misreported as a theft of trade secrets case when, instead, it appears to be a breach of noncompete agreement and inevitable disclosure case. That being said, Crain's Chicago Business is reporting that a former Motorola executive employee, Michael Fenger, has been sued by that company for leaving and going to work with Apple and its iPhone team...
Taiwanese Company Complains "Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?"
Posted on July 16, 2008Forbes.com is reporting that giant electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. recently took out half-page ads in major Taiwanese newspapers to complain about delays in a Chinese court over the prosecution of a Chinese competitor for allegedly stealing its commercial secrets...
Healthcare Contract Data Subject of Georgia Trade Secrets Litigation
Posted on July 14, 2008dailyreportonline.com is reporting that an open records battle between the state's doctors and a major health insurance company will continue because a decision in the case by the Georgia Court of Appeals has left neither side satisfied.A panel of the appellate court ruled on July 3 that doctors were entitled to see certain documents related to United HealthCare's administration of the state's employee benefits plan because they are public records generally covered by the state open records law...
Former IBM VP Sentenced in Trade Secrets Theft Case
Posted on July 14, 2008From InfoWorld, an continuing in our parade of trade secrets sentences, Atul Malhotra, 42, of Santa Barbara, a former vice president of imaging and printing services at Hewlett-Packard has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from IBM.Malhotra was charged on June 27 with one count of theft of trade secrets, and he pleaded guilty on July 11 (a pretty quick turnaround as these things go)...
Sentencing in Chinese Espionage Case
Posted on July 13, 2008From the Associated Press, via Chron.com, a story concerning a former Pentagon analyst, Gregg W. Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, Virginia, who was sentenced Friday to almost five years in prison for giving secret information about U.S.-Taiwan military relations to a New Orleans furniture salesman who turned out to be a Chinese spy...
Brother vs. Brothers Trade Secrets Dispute
Posted on July 11, 2008From the Herald Bulletin of Anderson, Indiana, a story about a bitter dispute over trade secrets pitting brother against brothers.According to the story, Indianapolis-based Darlington Farms and owner Phil Hockemeyer filed a lawsuit against Rubicon Foods LLC, a company founded by Hockemeyer?s younger brothers, Steve and Todd...
Trade Secret Issues Become Paramount in Viacom-YouTube Litigation
Posted on July 08, 2008Viacom has sued YouTube for major-league copyright infringement, alleging that YouTube does not take sufficient means to insure that copyrighted material doesn't make its way onto YouTube. In order to prove its allegations, Viacom requested that the court give it access to YouTube's software source code to demonstrate that it does not utilize sufficient screens and filters to separate copyrighted material out from the non-copyrighted material...
Former HP Exec Says to FBI "Okay, I Did It" in Criminal Trade Secrets Theft Matter
Posted on July 02, 2008The Silicon Valley edition of The Mercury News is reporting that a former Hewlett-Packard executive has agreed not to contest federal charges that he stole trade secrets from his previous employer, IBM, and attempted to pass the information to colleagues at HP...
Trade Secrets of the Detroit Red Wings
Posted on June 30, 2008The co-authors of this blog like hockey. One of the co-authors (me) grew up in Detroit. It is a slow day in the trade secrets blog world so here's a post related to the proclaimed secrets of assembling a Stanley Cup champion team, direct from GM Ken Holland's mouth:1...
Laptop Seizures at U.S. Borders Implicates Trade Secret Concerns
Posted on June 26, 2008The United States Congress is attempting to investigate reports of widespread laptop seizures by U.S. Customs Officials of business travelers going, and coming from, abroad. The same implicates troubling consequences were foreign countries to engage in the same behavior at their borders...
Small Software Company Sues Google - Alleges Trade Secret Theft
Posted on June 25, 2008LimitNone, a small software development company, is seeking nearly $1 billion in damages in a lawsuit that accuses Google of reneging on a partnership with the small company and misappropriating its trade secrets for its Google Apps online service.The tiny five-person startup claims it entered into a confidentiality agreement with Google in March 2007 to share its trade secrets with Google's engineers, salespeople and certain key prospective Google Apps customers...
Trade Secrets and the Public Sector
Posted on June 23, 2008The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that Kaiser Permanente and San Diego's Palomar Pomerado Health District are objecting to the requested disclosure of terms of a contract between the private company and the public hospital district that is funded, in part, by property tax receipts...
Trade Secrets Sentence for Convicted Engineer
Posted on June 21, 2008From the Associated Press, a story about Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, a 44 year-old engineer who admitted he tried to sell fighter-pilot training software to the Chinese Navy. He was sentenced in federal district court in the Northern District of California on Wednesday to 24 months in prison, in what the AP refers to as the first sentencing for a newly defined intellectual property crime, stealing trade secrets to benefit a foreign government under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996...
Need a British Trade Secret? Airport Good Place to Start
Posted on June 18, 2008This jarring (seemingly hyperbolic) report comes from WNUNET.com in Great Britain - lots of confidential business information is being exposed in public places:"Over two thirds of Brits travelling on business have eavesdropped on someone else's confidential business conversation, and over a third have caught sight of sensitive information on laptops...
Criminal Trial for Former Eaton Aerospace Employees is Delayed
Posted on June 17, 2008We reported on the Eaton Aerospace criminal trade secrets trial back in May: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/05/eaton-aerospace-trade-secrets-criminal.html#links.Now the ClarionLedger.com is reporting the scheduled trial of five former Eaton Aerospace employees accused of stealing trade secrets from the Jackson company for aerospace contracts has been delayed...
Departing Broker Litigation Still An Issue
Posted on June 16, 2008We blogged the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling regarding memorized trade secrets here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/02/trade-secrets-all-in-head.html#links.Well, the securities brokers who routinely depart one financial services firm for another have taken note and are concerned that this decision, and other regulatory developments under way, spell trouble for the departing brokers...
IBM and PSI Engage in Trade Secrets Arguments
Posted on June 11, 2008IBM sued Platform Solutions, Inc. ("PSI") in 2006 alleging the PSI's servers illegally utilize IBM technology. In August of 2007, IBM apparently amended its complaint to add a misappropriation of trade secrets claim against PSI and PSI has now moved for summary judgment on that claim, asserting that it is time-barred under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act...
Taiwan Signals It Is Starting to Take Trade Secrets Seriously
Posted on June 10, 2008The attached link contains an interview with Dr. Chii-Ming Yiin, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs. It proves an interesting read, but we were most interested in the question and answer relating to the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), including trade secrets, in that country...
Trade Secret Risks Seen as Elevated in "Clean Technology" Field
Posted on June 09, 2008This report from CNNMoney.com caught our eye. The piece concerns the rise of intellectual property lawsuits in the "clean technologies" sector. Brian C. Yerger, and analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities Corp., compared what is happening to the information-technology book of the late 1990s...
Trade Secrets and Telemarketers
Posted on June 07, 2008From KCRA television in Sacramento, a story about two siblings in Modesto, CA who work for competing telemarketing companies. They were arrested Thursday on charges of stealing thousands of dollars worth of trade secrets.The Modesto police accuse Kevin Vincent of taking lead and contact information from the telemarketing company for which he worked -- Telecontact Resource Services -- and sending the information to his sister who works at Telepro, a competing telemarketing company...
Follow-Up to California Case on When the Trade Secrets Clock Starts Ticking
Posted on June 04, 2008Here's a follow-up, from Financial Week, to Todd's posting from yesterday.
Trade Secrets Statute of Limitations - California
Posted on June 03, 2008If someone steals a trade secret and then sells it to a third party, when does the statute of limitations begin to run on any misappropriation claim the trade secret owner might have against the third party?The Court of Appeals for the State of California says that the clock starts ticking when the trade secret owner has any reason to suspect that the third party knows or should know that the information they've purchased is a trade secret...
Trade Secret Shrimps on the Barbie
Posted on May 30, 2008This report from Australia's Fairfax Digital - Australia is experiencing a surge in trade secrets, unfair competition and intellectual property litigation. According to one experienced Australian attorney: "Often there is dissent about who owns the intellectual property rights in employee work product," he says...
Clear Channel Sues Tribune Co. and Former Executive for Trade Secret Theft
Posted on May 28, 2008As readers of this blog know, we're reporting more and more on competitively-sensitive hires that result in certain and immediate litigation alleging trade secret misappropriation and tortious interference with employment contracts.This is a substantial case of that type - Clear Channel accuses Chicago-based Tribune Co...
The Trade Secrets of Salad in a Package
Posted on May 26, 2008Chiquita apparently owns a subsidiary called "Fresh Express" and it developed the concept of "salad in a package." Well, Chiquita is alleging that key members of its packaged salad management team got a lot of cabbage to go elsewhere and now they're, em, dressing them down with a lawsuit for stealing key people and secrets...
Protection of Trade Secrets in the Gulf States
Posted on May 24, 2008Okay, so this one is more a curiosity than anything else, but the Gulf Times (of Doha in Qatar) publishes a question-and-answer column called "The Legal Helpline." Following is a verbatim transcript of one of this week's questions, from "IB" in Doha:Q: We run a business related to artistic production and creativity...
Boot Suit Settled
Posted on May 23, 2008We don't know much about the trade secrets of boots, but two companies that make boots tried to kick each other in a version of the "trade secrets two-step." Rocky Brands had claimed the defendants were using Rocky trade secrets to make "knock-off" boots...
Trade Secrets and Dolls Continued
Posted on May 21, 2008Forbes.com has an update from the Associated Press on a story we first wrote about in November 2006 concerning a lawsuit by toy maker Mattel (maker of the famous Barbie doll) against insurgent toy maker MGA, maker of Barbie's chief competition, the "Bratz" dolls...
Craigslist Sues eBay for Misappropriation of Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition
Posted on May 15, 2008Here's a biggie - Craigslist is counter-suing its own minority shareholder, eBay, for trade secrets misappropriation that allegedly assisted eBay in launching its own classified ad business. The complaint can be read by clicking on the link below. http://blog...
Eaton Aerospace Trade Secrets Criminal Case Has Seven of Twelve Counts Dismissed
Posted on May 12, 2008The Mississippi Clarion Ledger is reporting that 7 of 12 criminal charges brought against five former Eaton Aerospace employees have been dismissed and that federal prosecutors intend to appeal that decision. Federal District Court Judge Barbour threw out the first five counts of the latest indictment, saying the charges were unconstitutionally vague...
Jurors "Outraged" By Trade Secret Claims Made In Texas
Posted on May 09, 2008Here's a relative rarity - a trade secrets misappropriation case that goes to a full jury trial and verdict. National Oilwell Varco is an oil field parts seller. It had some long-term employees leave without any noncompete agreements restricting their re-employment in the industry...
NC Court of Appeals Decision on Pleading Standards in Trade Secrets Case
Posted on May 09, 2008It's nice (and easy) to be able to link to one of our sister blogs, the North Carolina Appellate Blog, concerning a case from earlier this week from the North Carolina Court of Appeals.In Washburn v. Yadkin Valley Bank & Trust, the court affirmed dismissal of a trade secrets claim on the grounds that the identity of the trade secrets and the manner of the alleged misappropriation were pleaded with insufficient particularity...
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Writes Op-Ed Piece In Newark Advocate
Posted on May 08, 2008We think we're reading this correctly - a sitting Ohio Supreme Court justice has written an op-ed piece about a recently decided case entitled "Employees Should Realize Trade Secrets are Well-Protected." The case Justice Pfeifer is referring to, of course, was one we've blogged and has also generated lots of press in the trade secrets world - the case that holds memorized trade secret data is just as protectible than that taken in tangible forms (e...
Trade Secrets Cases on the Upswing
Posted on May 07, 2008This is not exactly scientific, but it's somewhat empirical:If you do a search on the term "trade secrets" in the Westlaw federal database (federal district, appeals and Supreme Court cases) for 2007, 905 cases are returned. That's an increase of 20% from 2006 (754) and an increase of 231% from 1997, ten years before (273)...
The Trade Secrets of Hedge Funds
Posted on May 05, 2008Portfolio.com published an interesting piece recently concerning the increasing number of suits commenced to stop hedge fund employees from departing to work for a competitor. The article identifies state trade secrets law as a primary legal vehicle for getting injunctions against the departing employees...
Appeal in Virginia Trade Secrets Case
Posted on May 05, 2008From the Danville (VA) News: This one's a little opaque, but it's from nearby enough that we ought to report it.Robin Tomer, the wife of a Danville City Councilman, filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia against a jury decision that found her liable on a Virginia Trade Secrets Act claim brought by her former employer, Romar Medequip...
ComputerWorld Kenya Warns "There Are Computer Thieves Out There!"
Posted on April 30, 2008Okay, okay. We admit it. We thought it was a little ironic that an online magazine called "ComputerWorld Kenya" was warning about data thievery. That said, in a legitimate piece, Christopher Burgess echoes points we've made on our blog many times - that nation/states are active in stealing proprietary information for their benefit...
The Marvell Case ? Screwing Up a Voicemail Message Waives Attorney-Client Privilege
Posted on April 27, 2008Here?s how Sue Riessinger put it in an article in Corporate Counsel in June 2005:There are dumb mistakes, and then there are really dumb mistakes. Four years ago Matthew Gloss, the general counsel of Marvell Semiconductor Inc., and two of his colleagues phoned the legal chief of a rival company, Jasmine Networks Inc...
Further Developments in Trade Secrets Case Concerning NC Scientist
Posted on April 22, 2008Further to our original story posted here. A follow-up from the Burlington (NC) Times-News reporting progress in this case, posted without comment (because it's Todd's case).
New York Times on Economic Espionage
Posted on April 21, 2008There's an old joke that once the New York Times or Time Magazine reports on a trend, it's over.Well, here's hoping that's the case with respect to economic espionage, especially the Chinese variety, which is detailed in this piece from Sunday's paper, "A Spy?s Motivation: For Love of Another Country...
Lew Racing Sues Edge Composites Over Alleged "Secret Process" Theft
Posted on April 18, 2008A Nevada court has delayed ruling on a request by the owners of Lew Racing to bar competitor Edge Composites from displaying or selling products that Lew alleges were made using a ?secret process? it developed.Paul Lew and Lee Vaccaro, the owners of Lew Racing, filed suit in Clark County, Nevada, seeking damages and a permanent injunction to keep Edge, owned by former Lew employee Jason Schiers, from producing carbon fiber products using Lew?s so-called ?secret process,? which Lew says he developed and protected with non-disclosure agreements...
Electric Sports Car Maker Tesla Motors Sues Fisker Coachbuild for Trade Secrets Theft
Posted on April 16, 2008Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley maker of electric sports cars, filed suit in San Mateo Superior Court on Monday against a competing company and two of its employees, saying they stole some of Tesla?s design ideas and trade secrets.Tesla, which has generated much interest among fans of cars and technology, recently started shipping a two-seat electric sports car in limited quantities...
Friday Historical Vault: Mother Jones Says CIA Prepared to Aid in Trade Secret Theft for American Companies
Posted on April 11, 2008Well, it's Friday and there's little going on in the trade secrets world. That being the case, we thought we'd link you in to a fascinating article from 1994 in which Mother Jones contributor Robert Dreyfuss suggests that the CIA was gearing up to assist private businesses to engage in economic espionage...
Defense Contractor Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing Aircraft Fuel Bidding Secrets
Posted on April 10, 2008A U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) contractor from Baltimore pleaded guilty today to conspiringto steal competitive information concerning contracts to supply fuel to DOD aircraft at locations worldwide, the Department of Justice announced. Matthew W...
Good Hands Trade Secrets: Allstate Releases Data on How it Sets Rates
Posted on April 08, 2008The Chicago Tribune has reported Allstate's release of the documents was on the heels of an appeals court ruling in Florida on Friday that upheld the regulator's suspension in January of the insurer from writing new policies in the state until it complied fully with subpoenas seeking information about how it sets rates...
Federal Judge Permits Bear Stearns Producer to Work for Morgan Stanley - No Preliminary Injunction on Alleged Confidential Information Theft
Posted on April 08, 2008Portfolio Media is reporting that a judge has denied a bid by Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. for a preliminary injunction in a case it brought to fight a move by one of its Boston-based executives to rival Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the U...
Lubrizol Trade Secrets Allegedly Stolen By Kyung J. Kim for South Korean Competitor
Posted on April 07, 2008After an internal investigation at specialty chemical maker Lubrizol, federal authorities have charged a former company employee with theft of trade secrets and conspiracy. Kyung J. Kim, a one-time senior R&D associate at Lubrizol's Brecksville, Ohio, facility, is accused of selling confidential company information to SK Chemicals of South Korea...
Pulte Homes Accuses Former Employee of Stealing Confidential Strategic Plan for Developing Albuquerque Properties
Posted on April 07, 2008Pulte Homes claims in a federal lawsuit that a top executive who was being laid off stole a highly confidential, $1 million Albuquerque market study and used it to create a similar report for a major competitor.The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court alleges that Lynn Galindo, a former area vice president based in Las Vegas, Nev...
Coca-Cola Trade Secrets Case -- The Denouement
Posted on April 06, 2008It's over. I'm talking about the inevitable appeal of the conviction of Joya Williams who was convicted last year of stealing Coca-Cola's trade secrets and trying to sell them to Pepsi.The Eleventh Circuit pretty quickly disposed of Williams claims of legal error, none of which related to trade secrets per se...
Misappropriation Trial of Chinese-American Aerospace Engineer Delayed
Posted on April 02, 2008A judge agreed Monday to postpone for 13 months the trial of a Chinese-American engineer charged with stealing military and aerospace trade secrets on behalf of China.Kenneth Miller, the attorney for 72-year-old Dongfan "Greg" Chung, asked for the delay because he is involved in a lengthy trial, said Assistant U...
Economic Espionage -- South Koreans Getting Into the Act
Posted on March 27, 2008From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a story concerning an alleged case of criminal trade secrets misappropriation by a former research and development associate at Lubrizol. The researcher, Kyung Kim, stands accused of of selling company trade secrets to a South Korean competitor, SK Chemicals -- allegedly meeting SK officials 17 times over a seven-year period...
Turnabout? Fair Play? Americans Stealing Russian Oil Trade Secrets?
Posted on March 24, 2008A man-bites-dog story from the Times of India, concerning economic espionage with the Americans and British allegedly stealing Russian trade secrets. Russia's internal security agency announced the arrest of two Russian-Americans for their alleged involvement in economic espionage, a day after the raids on the offices of British oil major BP...
"No Secrets in Beer"
Posted on March 10, 2008From the Aurora (IL) Beacon-News, we thought we'd start off the week with something a little up-beat. It's the story of the two Ebel brothers who turned their home brewing hobby into a retail business.The brothers don't mind sharing their recipes with people who ask...
Microwave Technology For Sale? Oops - That'll Get You Prison Time
Posted on February 29, 2008Allen Cotten apparently worked for Genesis Microwave Inc. in El Dorado Hills, and admitted that beginning in February 2004 he began to steal plans, designs, parts and specifications for components known as logarithmic video amplifiers. The technology has military applications for radar jamming, guidance, countermeasures and locating enemy signals during combat...
The New Era of Cloak and Dagger in the U.S.
Posted on February 28, 2008From Family Security Matters, an interesting article by Jim Kouri, who is currently vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He writes about the recent spate of economic espionage cases and particularly about what appear to be the concerted efforts by China to steal America's trade secrets.
D.C. Circuit Bars Air Force From Disclosing Contractor?s Pricing Information in Response to FOIA Request
Posted on February 25, 2008From our brethren at the Unfair Business Practices Blog, a summary of an important DC Circuit decision on trade secrets in the context of a FOIA request from an unsuccessful bidder on a federal contract.
Nice Summary of the Boeing Case and it Larger Meaning
Posted on February 19, 2008From The Conservative Voice, an excellent summary of the Boeing case initially reported by us here. The article also summarizes last week's economic espionage case out of New Orleans.
Trade Secrets at Risk in International Travel?
Posted on February 13, 2008InfoWorld has just posted an interesting piece on the possibility that data is being obtained by U.S. Customs in the travel process and that trade secrets are at risk in these exchanges. We've not examined this issue yet on Womble Trade Secrets so we'd thought you should take a look at Mr...
Tom Cruise Scientology Video - A Religion's Trade Secret?
Posted on February 11, 2008Boston University's The Daily Free Press is reporting that 200 protesters stood in front of Boston's Church of Scientology to protest recent actions of the church in allegedly threatening people with cease and desist letters in connection with a release of a confidential marketing video featuring Tom Cruise, seen here: http://gawker...
Boeing Engineer Arrested for Stealing Aerospace Trade Secrets for China
Posted on February 11, 2008A former Boeing engineer was arrested on Monday on charges of stealing trade secrets for China related to several aerospace programs, including the Space Shuttle, the U.S. Justice Department said.http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-boeing-space-shuttle-ba-spy-0211feb11,1,1242946...
Trade Secrets All in the Head
Posted on February 07, 2008Can you state a claim for a trade secrets case based solely on the fact that the person walked out with the trade secrets in his or her head? In Ohio at least, the answer is "yes."From the Associated Press, via Dayton, Ohio television station, WDTN:The Ohio Supreme Court ruled yesterday that memorizing a company's trade secrets is just as wrong as writing them down or copying them in some other format...
Florida's VP Gables Sues Washington's Cobalt For Trade Secret Theft
Posted on February 06, 2008Fox Business is reporting that VP Gables, LLC (formerly known as VinPlus, LLC), a previous provider of data management solutions, today announced that it has filed a complaint against The Cobalt Group, Inc., a provider of automotive marketing services headquartered in Seattle, Washington...
NFL and Trade Secrets
Posted on February 06, 2008This posting follows up on Todd's from yesterday:The wheels are coming off the economy and we're in a protracted war in Iraq and so Congress is taking the bull by the horns and investigating . . . possible cheating in the NFL.Now Sporting News, too, weighs in with an article indicating that the main allegations in "Spygate" -- the contention that the New England Patriots may have improperly taped the defensive sideline signals and practices of their opponents -- may violate the federal Economic Espionage Act...
Did Bill Belichick and the Patriots' Video Guy Violate the Economic Espionage Act?
Posted on February 05, 2008Did any of you know that The Sporting News has a legal consultant? Well, we didn't either. His name is Mike Florio and he's just posted a fascinating idea on the blog - that the Spygate actions of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick may have violated the Economic Espionage Act of 1996...
Mebane (NC) Firm Accuses Scientist of Taking Trade Secrets
Posted on February 03, 2008From the Burlington (NC) Times News, and posted without editorial comment since it's Todd's case.
Mississippi Trade Secrets Mess
Posted on January 31, 2008Mississippi state courts are in an unholy uproar over a bribery scandal relating to one of the state's top plaintiff's lawyers, Dickie Scruggs, and claims of payoffs to state judges. (The New York Times had a lengthy recent -- and eye-opening -- article on the scandal...
Trade Secrets of Breathalyzers - Kentucky Gets in On The Act
Posted on January 31, 2008The Kentucky Court of Appeals has apparently reversed two lower court rulings that defendants in drunk driving cases cannot test the accuracy of the breathalyzer machines that help convict them.As you can see, this defense strategy is not one limited to Kentucky: http://arstechnica...
Massive Trade Secret Verdict Awarded to Alpha Mining Systems Against Former Employee
Posted on January 31, 2008The Sarasota Herald-Tribune is reporting a $19.7 million trial verdict in favor of Alpha Mining Systems and against its former employee, Sam Vance. Interestingly, the article reports that Vance did not show up for any court appearance in the matter - thus, suggesting that this was a default judgment that went uncontested...
Cooper Tire Ordered to Give Utah Plaintiffs Access to Records it Deems Trade Secrets
Posted on January 29, 2008The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that plaintiffs in a roll-over case received an order from U.S. Magistrate Paul Warner - and affirmed by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell - for wide access to documents held by Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. It was an order that Cooper Tire, in court filings, calls "breathtaking...
Regulated Industries Day at Womble Trade Secrets - PUCO Interested in Duke's "Side Deals" for Corporate Customers
Posted on January 25, 2008The chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio wants to prohibit the kind of secret deals that Duke Energy signed in 2004 with several of its biggest corporate customers.Proponents of side deals say they are a good way to resolve disputes and often can spur economic development by reducing costs to businesses...
Allstate Gives Trade Secrets Documents to Florida Regulators
Posted on January 25, 2008From the Chicago Tribune, a follow up to our story here, regarding documents sought by regulators that insurer Allstate was claiming were trade secrets.Florida regulators had barred Allstate from writing new policies as a result of the dispute.Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty barred Allstate from writing new policies in the state because he said the company hadn't complied with a subpoena for the documents...
FBI Rolls Out Economic Espionage Awareness Programs Across US
Posted on January 23, 2008MLive.com is reporting on the FBI's current initiative in heightening trade secret theft awareness across the business sectors of the United States. Raising awareness among business leaders and educators is key to the success of the program, FBI officials say...
Seventh Circuit Vacates Trade Secrets Injunction on Lack of Specificity Grounds
Posted on January 19, 2008Those of you who have actually read a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction order know that there's usually some portion that says "THOU SHALT NOT DO . . . . " and the list is can be pretty long. Oftentimes the list is pretty vague too...
More on Allstate Trade Secrets Disputes
Posted on January 17, 2008The Miami Herald has an interesting story, following up on ours here from November, regarding Allstate's efforts to keep a consultant's report from McKinsey away from state regulators on the grounds that it's a trade secret.The report, from the 1990's, reportedly advises Allstate on how to improve the company's profitability: pay less on claims and take a longer time to pay those claims...
Cyber-Espionage moves into B2B
Posted on January 16, 2008From InfoWorld, a disturbing story about how cyber-espionage, including (of course) economic espionage, is moving away from governmental subjects and targets to businesses. The report is based on the research of the SANS Institute. According to its latest research, cyber-espionage efforts funded by "well-resourced organizations" -- including both government-backed and private efforts -- will expand significantly during 2008, in particular as overseas companies look to gain an upper hand in negotiating business deals with large companies based in the U...
Staffing Firm Aerotek Sues Former Employees for Trade Secret Theft
Posted on January 14, 2008The Sacramento Business Journal is reporting that Aerotek - a staffing company owned by Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti - has sued Johnson Group Staffing and one if its recent hires claiming they have misappropriated trade secrets in the process of competing and soliciting Aerotek's clients...
Ohio Defense Contractor Wins $23 Million Trade Secrets Verdict
Posted on January 11, 2008Entrepreneur.com is reporting that an Ohio defense contractor whose former employees misappropriated trade secrets to set up their own company and work with a competitor received a jury verdict of nearly $23 million.Innovative Technologies Corp. was awarded $17 million in punitive damages and almost $6 million in compensatory damages by a Montgomery County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas jury, which based its verdict on findings that David P...
Silicon Image and Analogix Fight It Out - Trade Secrets and Copyright Trial Set for April, 2008
Posted on January 09, 2008Analogix Semiconductor, Inc., a world leader in high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and IP solutions, announced today that the U.S. District Court recently denied Silicon Image, Inc.'s request for a preliminary injunction. Silicon Image had previously asked the Court to order Analogix to stop selling certain of its HDMI chips, claiming that Analogix had misappropriated Silicon Image's alleged trade secrets...
PETA Wants Animal Testing Records - Mississippi High Court Will Rule on Trade Secrets Objections
Posted on January 08, 2008In January 2006, PETA filed suit alleging Mississippi State University violated the Mississippi Public Records Act when it was denied records of dental experiments and other tests on animals conducted since 1999 for Iams, a pet foot manufacturer.The Public Records Act requires that records be furnished to the public either free of charge or in return for reasonable fees...
Betrayal: A Silicon Valley Way of Life (subscription req'd)
Posted on January 07, 2008From Salon.com, an interesting article which provides a different take on at least one case allegedly involving Chinese economic espionage. The case concerns the trade secrets claim of Applied Materials, a Santa Clara manufacturer of chip-making machinery, against a Shanghai start-up, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC)...
Kinetic Concepts Brings Trade Secrets Against Innovative Therapies
Posted on January 03, 2008What happier way to start the New Year than with a new trade secrets case? From Forbes.Com, a brief item concerning a matter filed yesterday in state district court in Texas in which medical technology firm Kinetic Concepts Inc. sued competitor Innovative Therapies Inc...
Think Secret Blog Settles Apple Trade Secrets Case By Shutting Down
Posted on December 20, 2007InformationWeek is reporting a confidential settlement has been reached between Apple Computers and the Mac-blog Think Secret that was reportedly a "positive solution for both sides." No sources of the information that sparked the lawsuit were revealed, the release said...
Facebook Brings Claim Under Computer Fraud & Abuse Act
Posted on December 19, 2007From eFluxMedia, a story concerning Facebook?s amending its lawsuit in the Northern District of California accusing defendants of unlawfully accessing its servers seeking the web site?s users? personal details.Facebook alleged that in June servers operated by the defendants used automated scripts to make more than 200,000 requests for personal information stored on Facebook?s own servers...
TomTom Advises Tele Atlas Customers "Don't Fear Us"
Posted on December 18, 2007The Washington Post is reporting that Dutch navigation device maker TomTom is attempting to reassure customers of Tele Atlas that their secrets will be safe once TomTom buys the Tele Atlas.Confidential information will be restricted to dedicated major account teams and TomTom and Tele Atlas will keep separate data-processing and email systems, TomTom CEO Goddijn said...
BNA Report: Mobility = Trade Secrets Risk
Posted on December 13, 2007BNA's Daily Labor Report has published a piece concerning risks the mobile workforce places on corporate trade secrets. It makes a solid read and provides reliable analysis: Corporate policies aimed at safeguarding intellectual property andtrade secrets are becoming increasingly important as the mobility of labormarkets grows and as the tools available for compromising critical corporatedata expand, a panel of employment and technology law professionals said Dec...
Chinese Espionage and Night Vision
Posted on December 11, 2007From ThreatsWatch.org, a story on Chinese espionage in sensitive U.S. defense industries:The author says that the threat posed by China goes beyond their reported involvement in the recent cyber attacks against Oak Ridge National Laboratory. According to the story, "the aggressive Chinese economic espionage effort mounted by Chinese intelligence agencies is illustrated by the announcement by U...
DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS! The Coin Merchants' Trade Secret Battle
Posted on December 04, 2007The Southeast Texas Record is reporting that Austin-based U.S Money Reserve, Inc. is pursuing a permanent injunction against a band of former employees, who formed their own coin company by allegedly stealing the company's consumer accounts. U.S Money Reserve, doing business as United States Rare Coin & Bullion Reserve (USRCB), filed its suit, USRCB vs...
Congressman McCotter on Chinese Espionage Threat
Posted on November 30, 2007From the Northville (Mich.) Record, a ?Congressional Update? from Michigan Republican Congressman, Thad McCotter, concerning the bi-partisan U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission which recently issued its annual report to Congress.The report, according to the congressman, is ?a wake-up call to America...
Allstate: Win the Case, Lose the Trade Secrets Battle
Posted on November 21, 2007From the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader, a story about a trial won by Allstate in which it looks like it will lose the issue of whether its claimed trade secrets will be made public.A judge in Fayette County, Kentucky has ruled that secret company documents shown during a civil trial challenging Allstate's claims practices should be made public...
Trade Secrets Battle in Detroit - MSC Software Corp. vs. Altair Engineering Inc. and Seven Former MSC Employees
Posted on November 20, 2007Crain's Detroit Business is reporting that Troy, Michigan-based Altair Engineering Inc. wants a federal judge to appoint a programming expert to determine whether any computer codes link Altair's new prototype simulation software to a competitor's.The competitor, Santa Ana, Calif...
China: "Security Threat" and Denial
Posted on November 20, 2007From the dog-bites-man files, first a story from Information Week concerning the economic espionage threat posed to the United States by China.The occasion for the story is the new Report to Congress by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission which calls Chinese economic espionage the top threat to U...
Federal Scientist and Engineer Creates New Twist in Rohm & Haas Trade Secret Battle With Former Employee
Posted on November 13, 2007The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that a Department of Energy scientist and engineer has put in his two cents regarding this long-fought trade secrets battle between Rohm & Haas and one of their former employees.The chemist and engineer, Charles Russomanno, wrote in a two-page, previously undisclosed Energy Department memo obtained by The Inquirer that Lin's research made no use of company trade secrets and was worthy of an $850,000 federal research grant...
Union Wants Aramark's "Trade Secrets"
Posted on November 09, 2007Local 217 union members and some parents want Aramark Corp. to fully disclose terms of its contract with the New Haven Public Schools.Service Employees International Union and UNITE HERE! requested the information, along with eight New Haven parents in a letter to Board of Education Chairman Brian Perkins, dated Oct...
Trade Secrets and Sneakers -- Nike's Case
Posted on November 09, 2007Or maybe you call them tennis shoes, or trainers, or athletic shoes. In any event, from KGW.com in Portland, Oregon, a story about how the feds nabbed a print shop employee, one Reynold Chapin. Investigators say Chapin claimed to have a copy of Nike's unreleased Fall 2008 catalog and was willing to leak the information, including designs and prices, to the highest bidder...
Chariman of DOJ Task Force on Intellectual Property Releases Statement Made to Senate Judiciary Committee
Posted on November 08, 2007It's clear that the Department of Justice has gotten serious about domestic and foreign intellectual property crimes. Just how serious, however, is proven by statistics released in the Chairman's statement:"Of course, at the core of the Department's IP enforcement program are criminal prosecutions, and we have worked hard to increase both the quality and the number of intellectual property prosecutions nationwide...
Innovative Solutions & Support Wins Trade Secrets Verdict
Posted on November 08, 2007From MSNMoney.com, a story (really it's a press release, so take whatever grain of salt you deem appropriate) regarding a jury trial in a trade secrets case between competitors with, as always it seems, former employees in the mix.Here's the release, edited slightly:Innovative Solutions & Support Inc...
GUYS GONE WILD!!! Father-Son Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Steal Trade Secrets
Posted on November 07, 2007The Watergate bunglers are Exhibit A in break-in failures. John Norris and Matthew Norris are Exhibit B. And now the latter have had to cop a guilty plea like the former.John K. Norris admitted in his plea that after leaving The Imperial Group -- a company that bids on U...
Ex-DuPont Scientist Gets 18 Months for Theft of Trade Secrets
Posted on November 07, 2007From the International Herald-Tribune, a follow-up on our story from last February concerning former DuPont scientist, Gary Min, a Chinese national who pled guilty to stealing trade secrets from his employer. According to the story, "while the fair market value of the confidential DuPont technology accessed by Min exceeds $400 million by some estimates, the government pegged DuPont's loss at about $180,500 in out-of-pocket expenses, and Min was ordered to pay only about $14,500 in restitution...
Departed Employee's Lack of Credibility Key to Robot Injunction
Posted on November 05, 2007We don't usually do this in our blog but we'd like to take this opportunity to commend to you the site of XConomy which can be found here: http://www.xconomy.com/. This site was new to us prior to our watching and commenting on the robot trade secrets case currently being litigated in federal court in Boston and we've been VERY impressed with this site's coverage and comprehensive handling of the inner workings of a trade secrets suit...
"Take Off, Hoser - But Leave the Beer Secrets Here"
Posted on November 02, 2007The authors of this blog love Canada. Canadians love beer. This is one of the reasons the authors of this blog love Canadians because we love beer, too. Canadian-based Sleeman Breweries has sued Canadian-based Mill Street Brewery and one of their new employees for allegedly stealing secrets about his former employer, see http://www...
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Can a former employee use photographs of jobs completed whie working for me in marketing material for a new business?
There are several issues here
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Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
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