Copying of employer computer files central to trade secrets claim Mobile Mark, Inc. v. Pakosz, 2011 WL 3898032 (N.D.Ill. September 6, 2011) Defendant used to work for plaintiff. Before he left that organization to work for a competitor, he allegedly accessed plaintiff’s computer system and copied proprietary information to a laptop that plaintiff had loaned [...]
Archive for the ‘Trade Secrets’ Category
Former employer’s trade secret claim under inevitable disclosure doctrine moves forward
September 12th, 2011
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Hiring subscribers to access competitor’s database gives rise to misappropriation claim
October 1st, 2010
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Reed Construction Data v. McGraw Hill Companies, No. 09-8578 (S.D.N.Y. September 14, 2010) Court refuses to dismiss lawsuit in which plaintiff accused its competitor of paying others to subscribe to plaintiff’s proprietary database to get confidential information. Plaintiff and defendant are fierce competitors that provide project news and information to the construction industry. (Really the [...]
No CFAA claim where no impairment of system or data
January 12th, 2009
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Andritz, Inc. v. Southern Maintenance Contractor, LLC, 2009 WL 48187 (M.D. Ga. January 7, 2008) When defendants Pettit and Harper worked for plaintiff Andritz, Inc., they had company-issued laptops with which they accessed proprietary information. After defendants resigned, they allegedly took that proprietary information and gave it to defendant-competitor SMC. Andritz sued in federal court, [...]
Court rejects constitutional argument in Microsoft trade secret prosecution
June 22nd, 2005
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Drug company can sue FDA for posting trade secrets online
April 12th, 2005
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has reversed the district court’s dismissal of a drug company’s tort claims against the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), holding that the drug company could proceed against the FDA for violations of the company’s trade secrets which the FDA had posted on its website. Jerome Stevens [...]
Password protection not enough to protect trade secrets
April 8th, 2005
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In the case of Liebert Corp. v. Mazur, the Illinois Court of Appeals has held that customer lists stored online in password protected directories were not entitled to trade secret protection where employer did not adequately make employees aware of the lists’ confidential nature. After several former sales representatives began working for a competitor, Plaintiffs [...]
Misappropriation of web development services not unfair competition
March 1st, 2005
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In Atari, Inc. v. Games, Inc., arising from a dispute over an agreement to license games for online use, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed defendant’s counterclaim for unfair competition, holding that such a claim could not stand where (1) alleged misappropriation was merely of services and not of [...]
