Motorola v. Hytera: In February, a federal jury found that Hytera stole software trade secrets and infringed copyrights owned by Motorola, awarding over $345 million in compensatory damages. While Motorola's trade secret and copyright claims overlapped, its double-barreled approach likely increased its damage award, as the jury awarded Motorola $73 million in 'head-start' damages, representing the amount that Hytera would have needed to invest to develop the stolen trade secrets.
Capricorn Management v. GEICO: In March, defendant GEICO leveraged Capricorn's own copyright claim against the plaintiff to obtain summary judgment on Capricorn's trade secret claim. Capricorn accused GEICO of misappropriating Capricorn's trade secret source code for medical billing software. The court granted GEICO's motion for summary judgment, holding that the source code was not entitled to protection because Capricorn had registered it, unredacted, with the Copyright Office.
Financial Information Technologies v. iControl Systems: This month, iControl Systems moved for a new trial in a trade secret case, invoking patent law as a reason why the jury verdict on a trade secret claim in favor of plaintiff-competitor, Fintech, cannot stand. The jury found that iControl misappropriated, among other things, Fintech's software interfaces and database architecture. iControl claims that these outward-facing features of Fintech's widely available software program cannot be trade secrets notwithstanding Fintech's terms and conditions, which restrict use and disclosure, because only patent law could afford Fintech a monopoly over the software's readily apparent features.
摩托罗拉诉Hytera案: 2月,联邦陪审团裁定Hytera窃取了软件商业机密并侵犯了Motorola拥有的版权,裁定赔偿3.45亿美元的赔偿金。尽管摩托罗拉的商业秘密和版权主张重叠,但其双管齐下的做法可能会增加损害赔偿金,因为陪审团向摩托罗拉判给了7300万美元的“先发制人”损害赔偿,这是Hytera为发展被盗交易而需要投资的金额机密。
Capricorn Management诉GEICO: 3月,被告GEICO利用Capricorn Management自身对原告的版权主张,获得了对Capricorn Management商业秘密主张的简易判决。Capricorn Management指责GEICO挪用了Capricorn Management用于医疗计费软件的商业秘密源代码。法院批准了GEICO的即决判决动议,裁定该源代码无权获得保护,因为Capricorn Management已将其未编辑的注册于版权局。
Financial Information Technologies诉iControl Systems:本月,iControl Systems提出了一项针对商业秘密案件的新审判,援引专利法,是陪审团对商业秘密主张作出有利于原告竞争对手Fintech的裁决的原因。陪审团认为,iControl盗用了Fintech的软件接口和数据库体系结构。iControl声称,尽管Fintech的条款和条件限制了使用和披露,但Fintech广泛可用的软件程序的这些外向功能不能成为商业秘密,因为只有专利法才能赋予Fintech对软件显而易见的功能的垄断权。
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