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Cypress Semiconductor Corporation and Maxim Integrated Products are two big Silicon Valley tech companies, both with an interest in touchscreen technologies. In February 2011, Maxim engaged a recruiter named Zion Mushel to help the company fill some positions with employees who had experience with touchscreen. Mushel solicited several such Cypress employees, some of whom Maxim … Continue reading
A fascinating, salacious trade secrets case out of the Western District of Missouri and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals: Hallmark Cards, Inc. hired Monitor Company Group, L.P. to provide research related to the greeting cards market. Monitor then took the research it had prepared for Hallmark and gave it to a related private equity … Continue reading
Florida continues to be a hotbed for non-compete litigation (possibly in light of the fact that Florida non-compete laws are among the most pro-employer in the country). A recent case out of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami pits National Deli, one of America’s largest manufacturers of deli … Continue reading
A recent case out of Minnesota raises a number of non-compete and trade secret issues. Let’s take a look: In 2005, Robert Wilcox was hired as the general manager of ground handling services at Minneapolis St. Paul Airport (“MSP”) for a company called Integrated Airline Services Alliance. In 2006, Menzies Aviation purchased Integrated. Menzies bills … Continue reading
Strangely enough, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida has become a hotbed of non-compete litigation. That may simply be a product of national trends: As Dow Jones recently reported, companies are becoming increasingly aggressive on the non-compete front. More and more companies are requiring employees to sign non-compete, non-disclosure and … 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
Early this month, eight employees of the advertising giant Leo Burnett Company simultaneously left the company in the midst of work on a critical project for a major client. Ostensibly, the Leo Burnett Eight have their eyes set on taking that client and making it big on their own. Leo Burnett is one of the … 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
In the realm of non-compete and trade secret litigation, there are certain truisms that have stood the test of time. Among the most basic: Do not take company files with you. This is a classic blunder. You know, like getting involved in a land war in Asia. It is a bad idea. When you take … Continue reading
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