Source: https://www.iptrademarkattorney.com/category/trade-secrets/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 20:44:35+00:00

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On May 8, 2015, I have the pleasure of speaking at Bridgeport Continuing Education’s “Trade Secret and Employee Mobility” seminar. For a list of the distinguished speakers and topics, click here . I will be speaking about the intersection of trade secrets with other forms of intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, and copyrights. To register for the seminar, click here.
I have the pleasure of speaking tomorrow at Bridgeport Continuing Education’s trade secret seminar, “Prosecuting and Defending Corporate Raiding, Customer Trade Secret, & Employee Mobility Cases.” For a list of the distinguished speakers and topics, click here. To register for the seminar, click here. I will be speaking about the intersection of trade secrets with other forms of intellectual property, including patent, trademarks, and copyrights.
Lukasian House supplies major retail chains with hand-made storage and organization products made of wood and fibers. Lukasian alleges that for over ten years it has built a database of “mom and pop” factories in rural China that reliably provide well-designed, high-quality hand-woven products. Major retail chains choose to work with Lukasian because it has a dependable source of products for timely delivery. Lukasian, naturally, keeps the identity of its suppliers a closely guarded secret by limiting disclosure to certain employees, maintaining it on a secure computer network, and instructing employees of the confidential nature of the information. Lukasian has also filed several copyright registration applications for photographs of samples of storage baskets and a hamper that it never published.
Aprille Vergara and Chen “Jane” Chen were former employees that allegedly had access to Lukasian’s trade secrets in performing their duties. In May of 2010, Vergara and Chen and other defendants allegedly accessed Lukasian’s server to download trade secrets to use in establishing a competing business. Shortly thereafter, Vergara and Chen resigned and allegedly falsely stated that the former intended to go back to school and the latter was to work with in her husband’s real estate business. Relying on the provided reasons, Plaintiff allowed Defendants to continue working and they’re accused of acquiring “knowledge of Lukasian’s suppliers, its customers, its best-selling items, the prices at which it buys and sells those items, and its profit margins on those items.” Defendants are accused of selling competing products to Lukasian’s customers and undercutting its prices.
Lukasian brings causes of action for copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. § 501(a)), computer fraud and abuse act violation (18 U.S.C. § 1030(g)), California comprehensive computer data access and fraud act (Cal. Penal Code § 502(c)), trade secret misappropriation (Cal. Civ. Code § 3426), unfair competition (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200), intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and conversion.
Santa Ana, CA — The jury in the Mattel v. MGA battle over the Bratz dolls determined that MGA did not infringe any copyrights and did not steal the idea or concept from Mattel. Instead, the jury has awarded at least $88.5 million to MGA for Mattel’s misappropriation of MGA’s trade secrets. The verdict form is available here.
This second round is in stark contrast to the first trial where the jury found for Mattel, which was overturned on appeal. I wouldn’t be going out on a limb by predicting that Mattel will appeal the verdict, after it’s post trial motions to set it aside, of course.
The case is Bryant v. Mattel, SACV 04-09049 (C.D. Cal. 2004).
Los Angeles, CA – Starclipz sued Stargreetz and its principals in Los Angeles Superior Court for unfair competition, trade secrets misappropriation, interference with prospective advantage, conversion and other causes of action, none of which specifically included a federal cause of action. Starclipz alleges that it conceived and developed a business that allows consumers to personalize greeting messages by including celebrity clips from their favorite movies. Plaintiffs claim that they had numerous meetings with Eric Frankel, Lucy Hood, and Linda Abrams to fund and develop a business, but Defendants “misappropriated Plaintiffs’ ideas and creative materials for their own unauthorized use and pecuniary benefit” by developing www.stargreetz.com.
In removing the case to federal court, Defendants assert that the state causes of action are merely disguised claims for copyright infringement that are preempted by the Copyright Act. Thus, although Defendants concede that there’s no basis for removal under the “well-pleaded complaint rule,” they claim that removal is proper under the complete preemption doctrine, wherein the existence of a preemption defense to a state-law claim gives rise to federal question jurisdiction.
The case is Starclipz, LLC v. Stargreetz, et al., CV11-2779 CAS (C.D. Cal. 2011).
Los Angeles, CA – Energy drink manufacturer Rockstar, Inc. licenses its trademarks from its founder and CEO, Russell G. Weiner. The Rockstar family of trademarks includes Rockstar Energy Drink®, Rockstar®, Party Like a Rockstar®, and the pending Rockstar Energy Shot™. In addition, Rockstar’s promotional materials for its drinks use the tagline “So grab it, shoot it, and Rock ON!” Rockstar alleges that it has sold over one billion cans of its energy drinks and has annual sales of several hundred million dollars. The energy drinks have been sold in containers having the alleged distinctive trade dress depicted below.
Defendant Rock On Energy, LLC is accused of using the confusingly similar trademark ROCK ON for a competing energy drink, which is sold by at least one mutual retailer. Also, Defendant is accused of using the confusingly similar “Live Loud. Play Hard. Rock On” tag line for its energy drinks. Further, Defendant allegedly uses a beverage container and product packaging that is confusingly similar to Rockstar’s trade dress. Defendant’s container is mostly black with lettering that is similar in fonts and colors to that of Rockstar’s. The case is Rockstar, Inc. v. Rock On Energy, LLC, CV 09-04017 GAF (C.D. Cal. 2009).
Los Angeles, CA – Skycam manufactures the Emmy award winning aerial camera system that is used to obtain above the action camera shots at sporting events such as the Super Bowl®. Skycam filed suit against Patrick Bennett and Actioncam, LLC for trademark and copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation.
Plaintiff alleges it hired Bennett as its chief engineer and provided him with engineering and design documents to work on the next generation of aerial cameras. Although Bennett developed new stabilization algorithms and hardware he was testing, Skycam states that it has not yet publically disclosed or the displayed the innovations. Skycam also alleges that in his position as chief engineer, Bennett was provided access to Skycam’s customer and vendor lists.
In 2006, Bennett and Skycam entered into a Separation Agreement and Release when his employment with Skycam ended, which agreement included a provision for maintaining the confidentiality of all proprietary information. Skycam alleges that “under Bennett’s guidance and with full knowledge of Bennett’s obligation to keep information learned during his prior employment with Skycam confidential, Actioncam utilized the confidential information provided by Bennet to develop” a competing aerial camera system which is marketed to Skycam’s customers. Defendants allegedly posted Skycam’s copyrighted works on their website and used Skycam’s trademark without authorization. The case is Skycam, LLC v. Actioncam, LLC, CV09-02409 PA (C.D. Cal. 2009).

References: § 501
 § 1030
 § 502
 § 3426
 § 17200
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