Cheaters never prosper. Particularly when caught red-handed and hauled into federal court.
In this decision by Judge Casper (her first noted by this blog), Topcon Medical, an optical device company, was enjoined from using plaintiff Optos’ customer list, surreptitiously supplied by a former Optos employee who was hired, then fired (post-lawsuit) by Topcon. Optos accused the employee of breach of his employment agreement and accused both the employee and Topcon of trade secret misappropriation. Optos had been clued in to the shenanigans by a former Topcon employee who leaked several damning emails. (Oops.)
The defendants moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, but that motion was denied. Most of the requested injunction was granted but the court refused to enjoin Topcon from contacting all the Optos customers on the list in question because some were customers of other Topcon products which did not compete with Optos’ products.
Optos v. Topcon Medical Sys., Inc., 10-12016-DJC (D. Mass. Mar. 7, 2011)