Intellectual Property Law

The Trade Secrets of Trading Profits Made in Milliseconds

Posted on July 15, 2009
Fortune'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, 2009
SecuritiesIndustry.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, 2009
The 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, 2009
Reuters 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...

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Lindsay Lohan Makes Trade Secrets News

Posted on July 08, 2009
http://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, 2009
http://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, 2009
http://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, 2009
From 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
Readers 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, 2009
We 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, 2009
http://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, 2009
http://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, 2009
http://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, 2009
http://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, 2009
We'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, 2009
Trade 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, 2009
A 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, 2009
An 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, 2009
http://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, 2009
http://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, 2009
http://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, 2009
Mayo 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
Okay - 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, 2009
Here?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, 2009
Well, 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, 2009
According 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, 2009
We 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, 2009
AmLawDaily 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...

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