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Notable Cases
Intellectual Property: Secrets v. Mobility
The success of Silicon Valley is due in part to employees who have good ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit. However, when key employees leave one company to work for or start a competing company, the former employer is often concerned that the departing employees and the new employer may misappropriate trade secrets. The issue of protecting trade secrets while allowing employee mobility is litigated every day.
In various lawsuits before state and federal trial courts, McManis
Faulkner has represented all the players: the former employer,
the former employees, and the new employer. Representative clients
include Apple Computer, Cadence Design Systems, Guzik Technical
Enterprises, Infoseek Corporation, Intel Corporation, Matrix
Pharmaceutical, Inc., Network Appliance, Inc., Symantec Corporation,
and TecHarmonic, Inc.
In one trade secret misappropriation case, a former employer
sued the new employer and two former employees. McManis Faulkner
represented the former employees. By suing the former employees
individually, the former employer faced challenges throughout
the case from not just the lawyers for the new employer, but
also from McManis Faulkner on behalf of the former employees.
When the CEO of the former employer made defamatory statements
about the former employees, the former employees counter-sued
for damages. The new employer had also cross-complained against
the former employer on other grounds. After several years of
litigation, the case settled on terms favorable to the MF clients
and their new employer.
In another case, MF represented Intel Corporation in an action
for misappropriation of trade secrets against Broadcom Corporation,
following Broadcom’s employment of three former Intel
engineers in a competitive field. After Intel obtained
injunctive relief against Broadcom, the case settled.
Litigation involving trade secrets and other intellectual property
matters requires not only a careful analysis of the underlying
technology, but also an appropriate strategy to prosecute or
defend such claims. McManis Faulkner excels at both analysis
and strategy in intellectual property litigation. We work with
experts from all over the country to evaluate intellectual property
claims and to explain the technology in terms that the judge
and the jury understand. McManis Faulkner also has considerable
experience in the collection and preservation of electronic
evidence, so that evidence in every form is available.
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San
Jose, Bay Area, California Law Firm McManis Faulkner | Copyright
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