Zettasett, Inc. sued Intel Corp. in October 2013 alleging that Intel stole trade secrets and built a clone product after obtaining trade secrets from Intel during deal negotiations between the companies. Zettasett claimed that Intel had ripped off Zettasett's data mining management program for Apache Hadoop, and then launched a copy of Zettasett's product in February 2013. The suit pended for almost exactly a year, but was dismissed recently, which typically indicates that a settlement has been reached between disputing companies (settlement terms are not typically publicly disclosed). I learned of the settlement on therecorder.com.
Zettasett's claims were pretty raw; its website states that "Intel unlawfully extracted trade secrets from Zettaset's product and technology to such a level that the Intel Manager for Apache Hadoop Software now mirrors the features and functionality of Zettaset's Orchestrator software."
Of course, most of us aren't actually interested in which side was in the right on this one, we just don't want that to happen to us.
What steps can you take to avoid having a potential suitor steal your trade secrets?
1) Always have a confidentiality agreement in place before discussing non-public information about your company.
2) Even with a confidentiality agreement, try to avoid disclosing your trade secrets with specificity to third parties.
3) Have non-compete agreements in place with all of your employees and contractors to avoid having them leave to rebuild your system for a competitor.
4) Consider investigating the background of the company, whether through a litigation search, Internet search or both.
Originally published October 7, 2014
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
