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Mealey's Trade Secret

January 23, 2020
Robotics Company Hits Business Partner With Trade Secret Misappropriation Suit

LOS ANGELES — A robotics technology company sued its former business partner in California federal court on Jan. 22, alleging that the defendant has misappropriated its trade secret information related to its autonomous robot technology in violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) and breached the terms of a licensing agreement to which the parties entered to market and sell a water drone vehicle (Apium Inc. v. Aquabotix Technology Corp., No. 20-619, C.D. Calif.).
January 22, 2020
Judge Finds Application Developer’s Trade Secrets Suit Untimely

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Jan. 16 awarded summary judgment to Bloomberg Finance L.P., Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Inc. (collectively, Bloomberg) in a lawsuit brought by the developer of an application for assessing investor sentiments by analyzing social media posts under the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA), ruling that the action was barred by the one-year statute of limitations that was contained in a developer agreement executed by the parties in 2014 (iSentium LLC v. Bloomberg Finance L.P., et al., No. 17-cv-7601, S.D. N.Y., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7808).
January 14, 2020
9th Circuit Upholds Bankruptcy Court’s Ruling Over Trade Secrets Dispute

PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 9 affirmed a federal judge’s decision to uphold a bankruptcy court’s judgment in favor of Sotera Wireless Inc., holding that the court did not err when finding that a competing company’s marketing technique was not a trade secret and when awarding damages based on Sotera’s limited use of documents containing trade secrets (In re: Sotera Wireless Inc., No. 18-56331, 9th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 1011).
January 14, 2020
Bankers Sued Over Alleged Misappropriation Of Commercial Banking Information

ORLANDO, Fla. — A community bank and its parent company sued several former employees of the bank’s commercial banking division and an industry competitor in Florida federal court on Jan. 10, alleging that the defendants engaged in a scheme to misappropriate confidential customer information prior to a mass resignation and use that information to compete with the bank in violation of state and federal trade secret laws (Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida, et al. v. Matthew Diemer, et al., No. 20-0057, M.D. Fla.).
January 14, 2020
Judge Declines To Extend, Expand Preliminary Injunction In Trade Secret Lawsuit

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Jan. 6 denied a company operating in the expert network industry’s motion to extend a preliminary injunction and to expand the preliminary injunction’s scope in a trade secret misappropriation lawsuit stemming from an alleged scheme concocted by former employees of the company to misuse trade secrets they obtained while working for the company to form a competing company (ExpertConnect LLC v. Mayokia Fowler, et al., No. 18-4828, S.D. N.Y., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2360).
January 13, 2020
Advertising Network Trade Secret Complaint Dismissed As ‘Shotgun Pleading’

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida on Jan. 9 denied a motion to dismiss in an advertising network’s trade secret misappropriation lawsuit against a former employee and industry competitor as moot, ruling that the network’s complaint is a “classic shotgun pleading” (Spigot Inc., et al. v. Jeremy M. Hoggatt, et al., No. 18-764, M.D. Fla., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3552).
January 10, 2020
Mandamus Petition In Trade Secret Dispute Against Attorney Rejected

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 20 denied an emergency petition for writ of mandamus filed by a client of two law firms formerly worked at by an attorney who later filed a pair of lawsuits against the client, rejecting the client’s request that the panel compel a federal district court to vacate two orders it handed down and to compel the forensic imaging and search of the attorney’s computers and cellular phones pursuant to a suggested protocol (In re: FCA US LLC, No. 19-1923, 6th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 38167).
January 10, 2020
Trade Secret Misappropriation Lawsuit Transferred To ‘More Convenient’ Venue

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas on Dec. 20 ruled that all private factors weigh in favor of transfer of a trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract lawsuit brought by a provider of integrated industrial safety services to the petrochemical refining, pipeline and industrial sectors against a former employee to another division within the district (Total Safety, et al. v. Alicia Knox, No. 19-2718, S.D. Texas, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 220530).
January 10, 2020
Summary Judgment Ruling In Trade Secrets Dispute Upheld On Appellate Review

SEATTLE — In an unpublished opinion, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 23 ruled that a federal district court judge did not err in granting a summary judgment motion in favor of defendants in a trade secret misappropriation lawsuit brought by a seller of steel and PVC piping and related accessories against a former sales representative and his wife but that the judge’s award of attorney fees to the defendants was improper (RJB Wholesale Inc. v. Jeffrey Castleberry, et al., No. 18-35916, 9th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 38232).
January 10, 2020
Judge Orders Forensic Inspection Of Laptop Connected To Trade Secret Suit

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A federal judge in South Carolina on Dec. 23 ruled that the owner and operator of a merchandise trade statistics database is entitled to inspect and copy a forensic image of a former consultant’s laptop computer as part of discovery in a breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation lawsuit (IHS Global Limited, et al. v. Trade Data Monitor LLC, et al., No. 18-1025, D. S.C., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 220327).
January 09, 2020
Sufficient Claims In Scanner Developer’s Trade Secret Suit Survive Dismissal Bid

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Jan. 7 ruled that a producer and seller of hand-held X-ray scanners used by law enforcement and security professionals sufficiently pleaded claims against a former employee and direct competitor in a breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation lawsuit alleging that the former employee misappropriated the company’s trade secrets for an imaging device to develop a competing product after leaving the company and forming the competing business (Viken Detection Corp. v. Videray Technologies Inc., et al., No. 19-10614, D. Mass. 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2138).
January 08, 2020
Injunction Properly Granted In Franchisor’s Trade Secret Suit, Judge Rules

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio on Jan. 6 declined to dissolve a preliminary injunction previously put in place in a franchisor’s breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation lawsuit against a franchisee and others, rejecting a defendant’s argument that the injunction was improvidently granted and that another judge failed to address issues surrounding the noncompetition provisions of the parties’ franchise agreement (Handel’s Enterprises Inc. v. Kenneth S. Schulenburg, et al., No. 18-508, N.D. Ohio, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1185).
January 07, 2020
Judge: Company Failed To Show That Target Customer Profiles Were Trade Secrets

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah on Jan. 2 ruled that dismissal of claims in a trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract lawsuit against the former marketing director of a cellular signal booster technology manufacturer and one of its industry competitors is necessary because the company failed to meet the required pleading standards in alleging that the defendants misappropriated confidential and proprietary target consumer profiles (Wilson Electronics LLC v. CellPhone-Mate Inc., et al., No. 18-78, D. Utah, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 769).
January 07, 2020
Cancer Treatment Device Maker Sues Competitor For Trade Secret Misappropriation

CONCORD, N.H. — A cancer treatment technology developer sued a competitor in New Hampshire federal court on Jan. 2, alleging that the competitor misappropriated the developer’s trade secret and patented information to develop a copycat medical device used in the treatment of diagnosis of cancer, in particular, advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (TheraBionic Inc. v. Autem Medical LLC, No. 20-02, D. N.H.).
January 03, 2020
Injunctive Relief Pending Appeal Denied In Mobile Application Trade Secret Suit

ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida on Dec. 30 rejected an automotive-related live call, email, chat and texting services provider’s motion for emergency injunction pending appeal of the denial of its motion for preliminary injunction in a trade secret misappropriation lawsuit, ruling that the plaintiff has not sufficiently shown that it will succeed on appeal (ActivEngage Inc. v. Todd L. Smith, No. 19-1638, M.D. Fla., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 222899).
January 03, 2020
Cleaning, Remediation Company Hits Former Employee With Trade Secret Suit

HOUSTON — An Italian operator of industrial cleaning, remediation and specialty chemicals business and its American subsidiary sued a former employee, direct competitor and others on Jan. 2 in Texas federal court, alleging that the defendants misappropriated their confidential and proprietary “online cleaning” technology to compete with the plaintiffs in violation of state and federal trade secret laws (ITW S.R.L., et al. v. Justin Weatherford, et al., No. 20-3, S.D. Texas).
December 24, 2019
Counts In Trade Secret Theft Criminal Suit Survive Dismissal Attempt

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on Dec. 19 ruled that dismissal of an aiding and abetting theft of trade secrets claim against a defendant in a theft of trade secrets criminal action is not warranted because the claim does not suffer from duplicity as the defendant alleged (United States v. Xanthe Lam, et al., No. CR 18-00527, N.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 219292).
December 20, 2019
Judge Rejects Acquittal Bid By Defendant In Trade Secret Theft Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Dec. 17 ruled that government prosecutors presented sufficient evidence at the trial of a businessman with ties to a Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) marine technology company who was charged with theft of trade secrets from an American competitor in the marine technology industry to support his conviction on the charge (United States v. Shan Shi, et al., No. 17-110[CRC], D. D.C.).
December 20, 2019
Recusal, Reconsideration Motions In Trade Secret, Copyright Dispute Denied

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California on Dec. 17 ruled that “no reasonable person would conclude” that he was not impartial in his handling of a trade secret misappropriation and Copyright Act lawsuit and determined that the owner of a sole-proprietorship failed to sufficiently show that reconsideration of the judge’s order dismissing her claims in an amended complaint is necessary (Sara Elizabeth Siegler v. Sorrento Therapeutics Inc., et al., No. 18-1681, S.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 216776).
December 20, 2019
Parties Seek Appellate Review Of Several Issues In Trade Secret, Contract Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — Parties in a breach of contract and trade secret lawsuit brought by a digital marketing firm against its former employee and industry competitor recently asked a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel to determine whether a federal district court erred in issuing several rulings before and after a trial that resulted in a $287,000 judgment in favor of the plaintiff (Six Dimensions Inc. v. Perficient Inc., et al., No. 19-20505, 5th Cir.)
December 19, 2019
Agent’s Customer List Was Not A Trade Secret, Idaho Supreme Court Rules

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho state trial court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of a plaintiff on a trade secret misappropriation counterclaim in a declaratory relief action filed by an insurance company’s former agent because a list of prospective clients the agent compiled after his termination from the company, which contained some of the company’s customers that he later solicited while working for a competitor does not constitute a trade secret, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled Dec. 17 (Brian D. Trumble v. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. of Idaho, et al., No. 46133, Idaho Sup., 2019 Ida. LEXIS 231).
December 19, 2019
Sales Representative Alleged To Have Misused Former Employer’s Trade Secrets

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A provider of court reporting and trial litigation support and related services sued one of its former sales representatives and others in North Carolina federal court on Dec. 17, alleging that the former employee breached the terms of his employment contract with the plaintiff and misappropriated its trade secrets in soliciting its clients and independent contractors on behalf of an industry competitor (Huseby LLC v. Lee Bailey, et al., No. 19-690, W.D. N.C.).
December 19, 2019
Medical Cannabis Company Sues Former CEO Over Alleged Trade Secret Theft

PHOENIX — A medical cannabis company and certain of its related assets sued the company’s former CEO in Arizona federal court on Dec. 10, alleging that the defendant misappropriated hundreds of thousands of documents containing the company’s confidential and trade secret information in violation of state and federal trade secret laws (AZ DP Holdings LLC, et al. v. Sara Gullickson, No. 19-5786, D. Ariz.).
December 18, 2019
9th Circuit Affirms Injunction In Trade Copyright Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — A software company was properly awarded a preliminary injunction barring its former employees and their new employer from disclosing or using source code acquired during their employment, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 16 (Softketeers Inc. v. Regal West Corporation, et al., No. 19-55529, 9th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 37079).
December 18, 2019
PhRMA Asks Court To Find That Oregon’s Drug-Pricing Laws Are Unconstitutional

EUGENE, Ore. — The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) on Dec. 9 filed a complaint asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon to declare that state’s drug price disclosure laws are unconstitutional (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America v. Lou Savage, et al., No. 19-1996, D. Ore.).