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To sum up the latest chapter of the Waymo v. Uber trade secret litigation: Waymo basically embarrasses itself. Uber pretty much wins. Let’s take a look: Waymo / Uber Background Waymo is a technology company focused on self-driving cars. It’s a Google spin-off. Uber is, well, Uber. Anthony Levandowski (“AL”) was one of Waymo’s star engineers. … Continue reading
A recent decision out of the Northern District of New York is a fantastic example of the thorough, methodical process all courts should bring to the analysis of non-compete claims. The decision also provides a wealth of useful information about defending non-compete claims under New York law. Let’s take a look: Two companies, DS Parent, … Continue reading
A strange case out of California: A company called Zora Analytics contracted with a company called AnanSys Software for the placement of temporary software engineers. AnanSys then subcontracted out the job to a company called Cigniti. AnanSys made Cigniti sign a software consulting agreement, which contained a non-compete/non-disclosure agreement. Cigniti then assigned one of its … Continue reading
Pittsburgh-based Blue Belt Technologies, an emerging player in the medical device and medical technology industry, continues to find itself at the center of non-compete disputes. Earlier this year, Blue Belt clashed with MAKO Surgical, a rival in the surgical robotics industry, after Blue Belt hired former MAKO sales executive Jeffrey Gellman. This time, Blue Belt, … Continue reading
Call it a trend. A number of recent cases from across the country suggest that courts are pushing back against overzealous attempts to enforce non-compete agreements against salespeople. One of the latest examples comes out of the Illinois. In September 2010, Rodger Reaume began working in sales for Fisher/Unitech, a major reseller of computer animated … Continue reading
Fort Lauderdale-based MAKO Surgical Corporation has filed a lawsuit against a former employee, Jeffrey Gellman, and his new company, Blue Belt Technologies, Inc., alleging the parties conspired to steal MAKO’s confidential information and clients. MAKO is a company that is principally engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of robotic surgical systems. These systems use … Continue reading
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer graphics cards, has sued four former employees alleging a massive theft of company trade secrets. The case was filed last week in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. According to the complaint, former AMD executive Robert Feldstein was … Continue reading
In October of this year, Amazon sued a former employee who had jumped ship and gone to work for Google. Beginning in mid-2010, Daniel Powers served as a vice-president of Amazon’s Web Services division. His principal job in that capacity was to sell Amazon cloud computing services to businesses. Powers left Amazon in June, signed … Continue reading
On Friday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against eBay accusing the company of entering a non-compete pact with software maker Intuit. Under the terms of the alleged secret deal, both companies agreed to refrain from recruiting or hiring each other’s employees. According to the DOJ, both companies aggressively policed their respective workforces to … Continue reading
The Zynga saga continues. In October, Zynga – the company that makes popular Facebook games like FarmVille – filed a lawsuit against a former employee, Allan Patmore. In short, Zynga alleges that Patmore left the company, took a ton of confidential information and trade secrets with him then went to work for a competitor Kixeye. … Continue reading
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