Yield Dynamics, Inc. v. TEA Systems Corp., 154 Cal. App. 4th 547 (2007) Yield Dynamics, which develops and markets software products designed to facilitate the fabrication of microchips, sued its former employee, Terrence Zavecz, and two business entities of which he is a principal for breach of contract, violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and related claims. … Continue Reading
ReadyLink Healthcare v. Cotton, 126 Cal. App. 4th 1006 (2005) ReadyLink obtained an injunction against Jerome Cotton, a former employee, prohibiting Cotton from soliciting ReadyLink employees and customers and from using or disclosing ReadyLink’s trade secrets and confidential information. ReadyLink fired Cotton for stealing ReadyLink records containing proprietary and confidential information. During a search of … Continue Reading
Jasmine Networks, Inc. v. Marvell Semiconductor, Inc., 117 Cal. App. 4th 794 (2004) Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. and Jasmine Networks, Inc. are competitors in the business of designing and manufacturing telecommunications chips. Marvell offered to buy some of Jasmine’s technology, along with some of its engineers, and Jasmine accepted after negotiating a nondisclosure agreement preventing Marvell … Continue Reading
Computer Task Group, Inc. v. Brotby, 364 F.3d 1112 (9th Cir. 2004) Computer Task Group (CTG) sued William Brotby for breach of a non-solicitation/non-disclosure agreement that he signed while he was working as an information technologies consultant. CTG succeeded in obtaining an injunction prohibiting Brotby from working for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, one of CTG’s … Continue Reading
People v. Laiwala, 115 Cal. App. 4th 850, 9 Cal. Rptr. 3d 466 (2004) Sadrudin Laiwala, a former engineer of Odeum Microsystems, a division of Hyundai Electronics America, allegedly copied and took with him a “DVD copy protection system” immediately prior to his departure from the company. Laiwala was criminally prosecuted for violation of California … Continue Reading
Snider v. Superior Court, 113 Cal. App. 4th 1187 (2003) Quantum Productions, Inc. sued its former sales manager, David Snider, for misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, interference with contractual relations and unfair competition after Snider resigned his employment with Quantum and formed a competing company. Quantum filed a motion to disqualify Snider’s attorney, … Continue Reading
DVD Copy Control Ass’n, Inc. v. Bunner, 31 Cal. 4th 864, 75 P.3d 1 (Cal. 2003) Jon Johansen, a Norwegian resident, reverse engineered the Content Scrambling System (CSS), computer software used to encrypt the contents of Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), and wrote a program called DeCSS that decrypts motion pictures stored on DVDs, thus enabling users … Continue Reading
Dodge, Warren & Peters Ins. Serv., Inc. v. Riley, 105 Cal. App. 4th 1414 (2003) James W. Riley and several of his co-workers were terminated from Dodge, an insurance brokerage firm, after Dodge learned of their intention to obtain copies of documents maintained in Dodge’s files and computer storage media before opening their own competing … Continue Reading
Reeves v. Hanlon, 106 Cal. App. 4th 433 (2003) Attorney Robert L. Reeves filed a lawsuit against attorneys Daniel P. Hanlon and Colin T. Greene and their law firm, Hanlon & Greene (H&G), after Hanlon and Greene abruptly resigned from their positions with Reeves & Hanlon (R&H) and allegedly persuaded certain R&H employees to join … Continue Reading
Cadence Design Sys. v. Avant! Corp., 29 Cal. 4th 215 (2002) In this case, the California Supreme Court answered the following question of law certified to it from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA), when does a claim for trade secret infringement arise: … Continue Reading
Schlage Lock Co. v. Whyte, 101 Cal. App. 4th 1443 (2002) J. Douglas Whyte was employed as a vice-president of Schlage where he was responsible for sales to The Home Depot (which alone accounts for 38 percent of Schlage’s sales) and other “big box” retailers such as HomeBase and Lowe’s. Whyte signed a confidentiality agreement … Continue Reading
People v. Farell, 28 Cal. 4th 381 (2002) On his last day of employment as an electrical engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation, Alejandro Farell printed out confidential design specifications for certain computer chips, which could have been used in designing other technology. The evidence of Farell’s misappropriation was obtained during the execution of a search … Continue Reading
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