Assessed damages in trade secrets misappropriation case

Assessed damages in trade secrets misappropriation case

Expert Opinion

Our Stout experts evaluated claims put forth by a data network services company against a former executive alleged to have misappropriated trade secrets relating to supplier/ supply chain contact information, IT systems architecture, and cost optimization data.  The company’s seven-figure claim (later revised upward to a mid-eight-figure claim) was based on a tabulation of historical costs and expenses incurred over a 15-year period for developing software and building a network of suppliers.  Our experts laid out the lack of nexus between the calculations of the plaintiff’s expert and the economic value of the information in question.  We also used independent research to demonstrate the effect of the pace of technological change on the expected useful life and rapid depreciation of the subject information.  Our critiques formed the basis for cross-examination of the opposing expert at trial, after which the case settled favorably prior to Stout’s expert testimony.