We invite you to review our newly-posted November 2023 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:

Mattson Tech., Inc. v. Applied Materials, Inc., 2023 WL 7180167 (Cal. Ct. App. 2023)

Canfeng Lai worked for many years at Applied Materials before submitting his resignation to begin a new job at Mattson Technology (one of Applied’s competitors). First, however, Lai allegedly emailed himself a number of files containing Applied’s trade secrets. In response, Applied sued both Lai and Mattson for violating the

Richtek USA, Inc. v. uPI Semiconductor Corp., 242 Cal. App. 4th 651 (2015)

Richtek sued three of its former employees (all residents of Taiwan) and the company they formed (uPI Semiconductor) for misappropriation of Richtek’s trade secrets. The trial court sustained the former employees’ demurrer to the complaint on the ground that the lawsuit was barred by the Taiwanese statute of limitations after taking

Wanke, Indus., Commercial, Residential, Inc. v. Superior Court, 209 Cal. App. 4th 1151 (2012)

In an underlying lawsuit, Wanke sued its former employees Scott Keck and Jacob Bozarth for misappropriation of trade secrets, among other things. That lawsuit was settled, and the parties agreed to a stipulated injunction pursuant to which Keck, Bozarth and their company WP Solutions (collectively, “WP Solutions”) would not contact

FLIR Sys., Inc. v. Parrish, 2009 WL 1653103 (Cal. Ct. App. 2009)

FLIR Systems purchased Indigo Systems, which manufactures and sells microbolometers (a device used in connection with infrared cameras, night vision and thermal imaging), for $185 million in 2004. William Parrish and Timothy Fitzgibbons were shareholders and officers of Indigo before the company was sold to FLIR; after the sale, they continued working

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. v. Superior Court, 163 Cal. App. 4th 575 (2008)

The trade secret owner in this case, Silvaco Data Systems, develops and licenses electronic design automation software. In late 1998, a former Silvaco employee, working for Circuit Systems, Inc. (“CSI”), incorporated Silvaco’s “SmartSpice” trade secrets into CSI’s product, “DynaSpice.” Silvaco sued the employee as well as CSI and in 2003 entered into a

Profit Concepts Mgmt., Inc. v. Griffith, 162 Cal. App. 4th 950 (2008)

Profit Concepts sued Greg Griffith, a former employee, for breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets in Orange County Superior Court. Griffith, who was an Oklahoma resident at the time, moved to quash service for lack of personal jurisdiction. (The contract contained a prevailing party attorney’s fees provision.) Profit Concepts filed

Alliant Ins. Services, Inc. v. Gaddy, 159 Cal. App. 4th 1292 (2008)

Alliant Insurance Services purchased a competing insurance brokerage company from G. Scott Gaddy for $4.1 million and then employed him under a senior management agreement. Both the purchase and employment agreements contained covenants whereby Gaddy agreed not to compete with Alliant or to solicit Alliant’s or Gaddy’s clients for three years following