Trade Secrets

Bigger in Texas? High Court to Decide Scope of Protection for Third Party Trade Secrets in Civil Discovery

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On August 22, 2014, the Texas Supreme Court ordered oral argument in In re: Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., a case concerning the discoverability of third-party trade secrets documents in civil cases. When should such documents be produced? And who gets to see them?

A simple summary of the facts of Magnum Hunter are as follows:

Party A hires Law Firm to help it negotiate a contract with Party B regarding an oil and natural gas venture. Party A and Party B ultimately reach an agreement on the venture and enter into a contract that says that Party B will provide to Party A all reports related to the venture upon request, provided that Party A agrees to treat such reports as confidential information.

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ANOTHER WIN FOR ALEYNIKOV: Judge Tosses Evidence in Ex-Programmer’s Latest Case

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Sergey Aleynikov fought the law, and the law lost—again.

Judge Ronald A. Zweibel of the New York Supreme Court has thrown out a raft of evidence originally gathered by the FBI for federal prosecution and later offered by state authorities attempting to prosecute Aleynikov for trade secrets theft. Finding no probable cause for Aleynikov’s original arrest, the court also faulted the feds for turning evidence over to the Manhattan district attorney instead of giving it back to Aleynikov. READ MORE →

Plaintiff’s Trade Secret Lawsuit Backfires!

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We recently reported on good things (big verdicts) coming to trade secret plaintiffs that endure lengthy lawsuits.  But good things don’t always come to those who wait.  One trade secrets plaintiff received a starkly less favorable result after battling for ten years over misappropriation of its alleged trade secrets and related claims.  On June 18, Eaton Corporation and Triumph Group announced they settled their decade-long dispute arising from Eaton’s claims that its former employees stole trade secrets and used them at competitor Frisby Aerospace (later acquired by Triumph). Though the exact terms of the settlement are confidential, Eaton will reportedly pay about $135 million to Triumph and $12 million to be split among its former employees. READ MORE →

CAR JACKING: Former Nissan Employees in Japan Arrested for Suspected Trade Secret Theft

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On May 13, 2014, a former employee of Nissan in Japan was arrested by the Economic Affairs Division of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police on suspicion of trade secret theft.  The arrest was made under the trade secret provisions of Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act (“UCPA”).

The former employee, identified as Kenichi Okamura, a Japanese national, worked at the Nissan Technical Center in Atsugi, Japan until he resigned in July 2013.  Before his resignation, he allegedly copied, on four different occasions, approximately five thousand electronic files pertaining to sales and marketing plans for Nissan’s popular “X-TRAIL” SUV.  He allegedly copied the files from Nissan servers to a private storage device that he took with him when he left the company.  READ MORE →

Ex-SanDisk Employee Arrested in Japan, Civil Suits Filed in the Wake of Alleged Flash Memory Trade Secrets Misappropriation

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Technology firms SanDisk and Toshiba recently filed trade secrets lawsuits on opposite sides of the Pacific, each alleging misappropriation by a third party stemming from the two companies’ joint venture.

SanDisk filed in California (seeking damages and injunctive relief) and Toshiba in Japan for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets from SanDisk and a SanDisk-Toshiba joint venture. In Japan, the alleged perpetrator was arrested.  Engineer Yoshitaka Sugita, his former employer, SK Hynix, and two wholly-owned North American subsidiaries stand accused of misappropriation.  SK Hynix is accused in both the California and Japan actions. READ MORE →