A company built its own proprietary equipment to produce its highly successful food product. The equipment, and how it was operated, were the company’s trade secrets. The company suspected that a competitor had copied its equipment and processes by hiring a number of its former employees and having them teach the competitor the trade secrets. We were retained to protect the company’s trade secrets.
After an intensive investigation, we filed a trade secret misappropriation suit against the competitor. The litigation raged on for three years and the trial lasted three and one-half months before a Los Angeles Superior Court jury.
We obtained a $28 million judgment for our client and a permanent injunction against the competitor using our client’s trade secrets. The competitor appealed and we represented the client in the appeal. The appellate courts upheld all of the judgment. We collected every cent of the $28 million dollar judgment for our client. The injunction we obtained was the only permanent trade secret injunction ever issued in California and it prevented the competitor from ever using our client’s trade secrets. The competitor went out of business.