Intellectual Property Law

He said he said, not enough to prove computer fraud and trade secret misappropriation

Posted on June 09, 2008
Seyfarth Shaw LLP W. Scott Krol The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently upheld summary judgment holding that a former employee did not violate the Virginia Computer Crimes Act (?VCCA?) when the former company could not prove that they were unaware of employees? use of company funds...

Misappropriation of trade secrets : the INNER PEACE MOVEMENT case

Posted on June 09, 2008
Background: Estate and two for-profit corporations that had been owned by testator brought action against two non-profit corporations that testator had founded alleging service mark infringement, copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, and conversion...

Decision: Companies should define confidential information for employees

Posted on June 09, 2008
Ford GunterA decision by the 113th Judicial District Court in Harris County last month set a precedent that could deter future trade-secret litigation.The court threw out Houston-based National Oilwell Varco LP's multimillion-dollar lawsuit against A&B Valve and Piping Systems LP in which NOV claimed A&B had violated nondisclosure agreements when it hired away four employees, and that those employees had taken trade secrets with them...

Protection of Trade Secrets And Confidential Information

Posted on June 06, 2008
6/4/08 Mondaq Bus. Briefing Protection of Trade Secrets And Confidential Information Mr Edward Fan Introduction With the rise of the information age and growth of the knowledge economy, managing and protecting information, as well as enforcing against its misuse, have become increasingly critical to business enterprises...

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Cal App - For SOL purposes, focus is on plaintiff's suspicions.

Posted on June 06, 2008
Four our friends at Jurisnotes.com Cypress Semiconductor v. Silvaco Data Systems (5/30/08) The question here was if a party stole a trade secret and then sold it to a third-party, when did the statute of limitations begin to run on any misappropriation claim that the trade secret owner might have against the third-party...

BEYOND TRADE SECRETS: PROTECTING BUSINESS INFORMATION IN ARKANSAS

Posted on June 06, 2008
43-SPG Ark. Law. 10 (Spring, 2008) Kevin M. Lemley Information is often a firm's most valuable asset. Arkansas trade secret law has lost much of its strength to effectively protect this valuable information. Recent federal and state laws provide new methods for protecting information stored on computers...

GIA?S BOX OF TRADE SECRETS

Posted on June 06, 2008
CHAIM EVEN-ZOHARThis week’s riddle: What do Rapaport and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) have in common? The obvious answer: they both recently tried their utmost to see how fast they could destroy the remnants of their own reputation...

Clean Technology Intellectual-Property Claims On The Rise

Posted on June 06, 2008
Sari KrigerDow Jones Newsletters NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- As clean-technology investment booms, companies are increasingly finding themselves involved in litigation over their intellectual property.Industry experts say concerns over intellectual-property protection for clean- technology companies will grow as the sector develops further and employees move among companies...

Window company sues former subcontractor for starting similar business

Posted on June 05, 2008
Chris DickersonWINFIELD - A St. Albans-based company claims a former subcontractor violated agreements when he started a similar business.Hanshaw Enterprises Inc, doing business as Window World of Kanawha, filed the suit May 30 in Putnam Circuit Court against Window Depot USA TriState/WV LLC and Marc Sisser...

NIH could not withhold records under exemption for trade secrets

Posted on June 04, 2008
43 F.Supp.2d 70 United States District Court, District of Columbia. IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS, Plaintiff, v. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH and U...

Calif. Court Resets Trade Secrets Clock

Posted on June 04, 2008
The Recorder A California appellate court has clarified when the clock starts ticking for trade secret holders to sue third parties who have acquired their stolen intellectual property. Three years after filing a suit over stolen computer source code, the subsequently victorious plaintiff also sued the defendant's customers for having acquired the proprietary information...

Whodunit? United States IT officials can effectively prevent security breaches

Posted on June 03, 2008
Jennifer McAdams United States IT officials can effectively prevent security breaches by customizing security plans for individual employees in every area of their organization. Bruce Schneier, a security expert in Mountain View, California, says that IT officials at all times need to gauge the company's level of risk and develop airtight audit trails...

Appeals court ruling may curb trade secret litigation

Posted on June 03, 2008
Frank Byrt Financial WeekJune 3, 2008 A California Court of Appeals ruling late last week could have a far-reaching impact on companies accused of stealing trade secrets.The ruling was in favor of an appeal of a lower court’s ruling by Cypress Semiconductor of San Jose, California...

Calif. Court Resets Trade Secrets Clock

Posted on June 03, 2008
Zusha ElinsonThe RecorderJune 3, 2008A California appellate court has clarified when the clock starts ticking for trade secret holders to sue third parties who have acquired their stolen intellectual property.Three years after filing a suit over stolen computer source code, the subsequently victorious plaintiff also sued the defendant's customers for having acquired the proprietary information...

Loose lips sink ships

Posted on June 02, 2008
Julianne DowlingLawyers are reporting a surge in cases relating to trade secrets, intellectual property (IP) and restraint of trade.But employment laws - by and large - remain on the side of the departing employee, experts say.According to Rob McInnes, principal of Spruson & Ferguson Lawyers, there has been a rise in queries about what is a reasonable restraint of trade in employment and trade secret misappropriation by former employees...

HOT COMPETITION FUELS TRADE SECRET SUITS: LABOR LAWYERS SAY LITIGATION BUBBLING UP AS OIL COMPANIES CLAIM TOP TALENT IS UNLAWFULLY BEING SWIPED BY RIVALS

Posted on May 29, 2008
5/20/2008 Daily Rep. (Fulton County) 4 Tresa Baldas A BOOMING OIL INDUSTRY is fueling trade secrets litigation within the domestic energy industry, where companies are increasingly suing one another for raiding each other's work force. Labor and employment attorneys say that higher gas prices are leading to hotter competition among domestic gas and oil companies, which are aggressively going after each other's top talent...

Topps Co. Inc. v. Cadbury

Posted on May 29, 2008
5/20/2008 N.Y.L.J. 28, (col. 1), May 20, 2008 Plaintiff appeals from the judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Haight, J.), entered November 8, 2006, dismissing claims for breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets...

NY FOIA : ample evidence supported determination that trade secret exemption was properly applied to petitioner's request

Posted on May 29, 2008
856 N.Y.S.2d 281, 2008 N.Y. Slip Op. 03380 Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York In the Matter of the CITY OF SCHENECTADY, Appellant, v. James J. O'KEEFFE, as Records Appeals Officer of the New York State Board of Real Property Services, et al...

Chiquita files suit against 7

Posted on May 27, 2008
Dawn Withers Chiquita Brands International Inc. is suing seven of its former Fresh Express executives, alleging they breached their confidentiality agreements. In a 20-page complaint filed last month in Ohio, where Chiquita is based, the company accuses the executives of using trade secrets for the benefit of Salinas-based NewStar Foods LLC and trying to recruit Fresh Express's employees and customers to NewStar...

2nd Cir - Extrinsic evidence did not resolve ambiguities over rights.

Posted on May 23, 2008
The Topps Co., Inc. v. Cadbury Stani S.A.I.C. (5/15/08) The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Cadbury and the 2nd Circuit reversed and remanded. In the view of the 2nd Circuit, this case was not ripe for summary judgment. The 1980 license agreement was ambiguous and the extrinsic evidence did not resolve the ambiguities over Cadbury's rights for purposes of its summary judgment motion...

ENERGY BOOM FUELS TRADE SECRETS SUITS

Posted on May 23, 2008
The Recorder Vol. 132, No. 97 May 19, 2008 Tresa Baldas The National Law Journal A booming oil industry is fueling trade secrets litigation within the domestic energy industry, where companies are increasingly suing one another for raiding each other's work force...

California's version of Uniform Trade Secrets Act permits injunctive relief

Posted on May 23, 2008
Background: Hospital brought claim against medical group for anticipatory breach of contract, relating to letter of intent giving hospital an option to purchase rural health clinics from medical group. Medical group cross-complained for injunction to protect confidential information it disclosed to hospital during due diligence period...

ND Cal - Plaintiff's claims did not arise under patent la

Posted on May 23, 2008
Altavion, Inc. v. Konica-Minolta Systems Lab., Inc. (5/7/08) The court granted Altavion's motion to remand, ultimately concluding that the claims at issue did not arise under federal patent law. Each of Altavion's claims was supported by a theory that did not require as a necessary element resolution of a substantial question of federal patent law...

Manufacturer of high-tech biochemical filtering devices used in various manufacturing and other processes, fired a production supervisor, Yong "Jake" Zhang, for allegedly videotaping the company's trade secrets and confidential manufacturing processes.

Posted on May 16, 2008
The parties settled for $50,000 prior to trial. The settlement did not include an admission of guilt, as Zhang still maintains he did nothing wrong. Plaintiff's counsel reported that all of the settlement proceeds were donated to charity. Synder, Inc...

11th Circuit briefly examined this principle in affirming a district court?s grant of dismissal and concluded that the Complaint must set forth facts from which the court could infer that any misappropriation of trade secrets was knowing

Posted on May 16, 2008
Southern Nuclear Operating Co, Inc v Electronic Data Systems Corp Seyfarth Shaw LLP Jason Jarvis Georgia’s Trade Secrets Act prohibits knowing misappropriation of trade secrets. See Ga. Code Ann. § 10-1-761. In a recent decision, the Eleventh Circuit briefly examined this principle in affirming a district court’s grant of dismissal and concluded that the Complaint must set forth facts from which the court could infer that any misappropriation of trade secrets was knowing...

Tex App - Information in rental logs could be trade secrets.

Posted on May 16, 2008
SP Midtown, Ltd. v. Urban Storage, L.P. (Tex App 5/8/08) SP sued Urban and The Jenkins Organization, Inc. (collectively "Urban") for misappropriation of trade secrets and related claims. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Urban and the appellate court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded in part...

The brinjal battles

Posted on May 16, 2008
Rahul JayaramIt’s an unlikely candidate for controversy, but the lowly brinjal is at the heart of a battle. The issues at stake: whether agricultural and pharmaceutical companies should share classified data (read: trade secrets) with the government and independent watchdogs...

Man Gave Military Secrets To China

Posted on May 14, 2008
Jerry Markon A New Orleans businessman pleaded guilty to espionage yesterday, admitting that he gave the Chinese government highly sensitive military information he obtained from a former Defense Department official. Tai Shen Kuo, 58, said in court papers that he plied the official with gifts, cash and dinners to secure classified projections of U...

Craigslist counter-sues eBay for 'stealing corporate trade secrets'

Posted on May 14, 2008
James Quinn Craigslist, the classified advertising website, has accused eBay of stealing corporate trade secrets, in a counter-lawsuit that comes just three weeks after the online auction giant accused it of diluting its minority stake in the business...

Fact issues whether appropriation of trade secrets had occurred precluded summary judgement

Posted on May 11, 2008
United States District Court, D. Connecticut. PANTERRA ENGINEERED PLASTICS, INC., Plaintiff, v. TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM SOLUTIONS, LLC, et al., Defendants. Civil Action No...

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