In its first instance judgment, the Metropolitan Court ordered more than one year's imprisonment for industrial spies and awarded approximately 10 million euros in damages.
Former managers of a Hungarian pharmaceutical company have been held liable for breach of trade secrets and ordered to pay record damages. The court of first instance found that the former quality assurance manager and his colleagues had sent/sold company files containing business secrets to other companies. According to the court, the managers sold restricted trade and business secrets, production methodology of patented solutions, and other valuable know-how, as well as the company's business contacts.
The court found that the managers contacted their former company's business partners and offered them the same conditions for the common production of certain pharmaceutical materials but at a lower price. The former company suffered damage because it had already entered into a joint venture with the same business partners, and this cooperation ended when the partners chose the better offer from the managers' new company.
The EUR 10 million damages is an absolute Hungarian record. The managers have appealed the ruling; we eagerly await the second instance proceedings.
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