An employee of a Bay Areas executive recruiting firm who left to start his own firm was sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of trade secret theft and unauthorized computer access crimes. David Nosal was a former managing director at Korn/Ferry International and left in 2004 to start his own firm.
former employee
Covenants Not To Compete: Restraining a Seller/Employee Against Competition – Not As Easy As it Looks
By Charles L. Post on
Posted in Trade Secrets and Competition
Section 16601 of the California Business and Professions Code provides a well-known exception to California’s statutory refusal to enforce contractual commitments not to compete. Under that section, Courts will enforce “reasonable” restrictions on the seller of a business to engage in competition against the buyer of that business. This is a commonsense approach: a buyer…
LAWSUIT ALERT: Groupon Sues Departing Employees for Taking Trade Secrets
By James Kachmar on
Posted in Trade Secrets and Competition
On October 21 2011, Groupon, Inc. sued two former sales managers who left their employment with Groupon to join a competing venture, Google Offers, which was allegedly started by Google after its unsuccessful attempt to buy Groupon. The lawsuit, which was filed in Chicago, Illinois, accuses the two former employees of breaching their employment agreements…
VERDICT ALERT: DuPont Awarded Nearly $1 Billion in Trade Secret Misappropriation Case
By James Kachmar on
Posted in Trade Secrets and Competition
In September 2011, a federal jury in Virginia awarded DuPont $919.9 Million in a trade secret misappropriation case. DuPont brought the case against Kolon Industries, a South Korean competitor, claiming that Kolon misappropriated 149 of its trade secrets relating to its aramid fiber technology, which is used in products such as Kevlar body armor. The…