Exec Pleads Guilty to Stealing Trade Secrets
Law.com reports that an executive who worked at IBM for nearly a decade pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets about the company's pricing and trying to pass them off to his superiors at rival Hewlett-Packard when he took a job there. Atul Malhotra, 42, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the single count of theft of trade secrets, prosecutors said.
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog apparently got through to John Vandevelde, Malhotra’s attorney, who reportedly called his client “an honorable man with an impeccable record” who “made one mistake in transitioning from one high-tech job to another.”
It's noted that HP and IBM cooperated with the prosecution in this case. HP said it detected the activity, fired Malhotra and turned the information over to law enforcement. His employment at HP lasted five months. IBM declined to comment on the case.
News of the guilty plea in this criminal prosecution was posted on Trading Secrets, the new law blog authored by the attorneys of the Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud, & Non-Competes practice group of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, who protect and defend clients against those who improperly handle proprietary information, violate non-compete agreements, improperly solicit customers or remove electronic data from businesses, and raid employees. This looks like a great new intellectual property law blog, so we've added a link to Trading Secrets in our list of IP Blogs in the sidebar on the left.
It's always big news whenever an executive is caught stealing trade secrets, sometimes with the cooperation of companies as competitive as Coke and Pepsi. Savvy companies would much rather protect their trade secrets and not rely on the goodwill and ethical management of their biggest competitors to prevent the loss of valuable intellectual property. After all, a trade secret is only enforceable if reasonable safeguards are in place to maintain its secrecy.
We're unabashedly enthusiastic about IP.com's effective technical solutions that secure innovation and protect intellectual property. InnovationQ provides key tools for effective Trade Secret Management that enable proactive, innovative companies to secure trade secrets as an economic and strategic component of their IP portfolio.
Others might rely on criminal prosecutions, lawsuits against competitors and former employees, and voluntary water torture to discover leaks.
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog apparently got through to John Vandevelde, Malhotra’s attorney, who reportedly called his client “an honorable man with an impeccable record” who “made one mistake in transitioning from one high-tech job to another.”
It's noted that HP and IBM cooperated with the prosecution in this case. HP said it detected the activity, fired Malhotra and turned the information over to law enforcement. His employment at HP lasted five months. IBM declined to comment on the case.
News of the guilty plea in this criminal prosecution was posted on Trading Secrets, the new law blog authored by the attorneys of the Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud, & Non-Competes practice group of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, who protect and defend clients against those who improperly handle proprietary information, violate non-compete agreements, improperly solicit customers or remove electronic data from businesses, and raid employees. This looks like a great new intellectual property law blog, so we've added a link to Trading Secrets in our list of IP Blogs in the sidebar on the left.
It's always big news whenever an executive is caught stealing trade secrets, sometimes with the cooperation of companies as competitive as Coke and Pepsi. Savvy companies would much rather protect their trade secrets and not rely on the goodwill and ethical management of their biggest competitors to prevent the loss of valuable intellectual property. After all, a trade secret is only enforceable if reasonable safeguards are in place to maintain its secrecy.
We're unabashedly enthusiastic about IP.com's effective technical solutions that secure innovation and protect intellectual property. InnovationQ provides key tools for effective Trade Secret Management that enable proactive, innovative companies to secure trade secrets as an economic and strategic component of their IP portfolio.
Others might rely on criminal prosecutions, lawsuits against competitors and former employees, and voluntary water torture to discover leaks.
You know how sometimes you hear a theme every once in a while, and you don’t make much of it? But then you hear it five times in a week, and suddenly you say whoah, something’s going on here!
This proves that not all big businesses will sleep with the enemy.