Case Filing Date: October 4, 2017 | Court Name: County of Santa Clara, Superior Court of the State of California
Eli Attia Brings Racketeering Charges Against Google
Santa Clara Superior Court of California recently granted a motion for leave to file an amended complaint that allowed Eli Attia and Eli Attia Architect PC (“Plaintiffs”) to successfully bring racketeering claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (“RICO”) in addition to the trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract claims against Google, Inc. (“Google”). Attia originally filed suit on December 5, 2014.
Eli Attia (“Attia”) is an architect who developed a technology that enables creation of more sustainable buildings faster and with lower cost. He called the technology, “Engineered Architecture” (“EA”). Google X, an affiliate of Google, approached Attia in 2010 and signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (“NDA”) permitting Google to use Attia’s confidential information “to facilitate technical discussions concerning existing or future product development efforts by the parties.” Shortly after, the parties entered into an Inbound Services Agreement (“ISA”) and a Statement of Work (“SOW”) to build a software system capable of implementing the EA technology using Attia’s trade secrets and his “pre-existing property.” This was dubbed the “Genie Project.”
Attia alleged in the complaint that Google plotted to “squeeze out” Attia from the Genie Project and misappropriated his trade secrets by continuing to use EA and his pre-existing property without permission and compensation. Attia alleged that Google pretended to kill the Genie Project and spun it off into a new company called “Flux Factory” to further develop Attia’s technology.
In the fourth amended complaint filed on July 24, 2017, the Plaintiff’s legal team added racketeering charges against Google by claiming a pattern of trade secret thefts. The complaint uncovered six other cases in which Google engaged in a similar pattern of activity where the tech giant sought inventors, signed an NDA, boxed them out, and misappropriated their trade secrets. In the October 4, 2017 Order after hearing, the Superior Court permitted the addition in the amended complaint. Trial is scheduled for September 2018.
The case is Eli Attia et al. v. Google, Inc. et al., case number 2014-1-CV-274103, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Clara.
Fourth Amended Complaint: http://tsi.brooklaw.edu/sites/tsi.brooklaw.edu/files/filings/attia-v-google-inc/20170724fourth-amended-complaint.pdf
Order After Hearing: http://tsi.brooklaw.edu/sites/tsi.brooklaw.edu/files/filings/attia-v-google-inc/20171004order-after-hearing.pdf
Case Filing Date:
April 13, 2017 | Court Name: United States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkFormer Susquehanna International Group Engineer Charged with Theft of Trading Code
Defendant Dmitry Sazonov (“Defendant” or “Sazonov”), age 44, was arrested on April 13, 2017, whereupon a criminal complaint was filed against him in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and federal prosecutors. The government alleges that Sazonov “attempted to steal valuable proprietary computer code that took his employer years to develop,” according to Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim. Sazonoz was employed for thirteen years by Susquehanna International Group (“Susquehanna”), a financial services firm headquartered in Pennsylvania with offices in Manhattan. Susquehanna’s principal line of business is securities trading and other financial products. Sazonov allegedly attempted to steal “proprietary computer code for a trading platform” that Susquehanna developed. The Feds report that “the trading platform Sazonov worked on trades $300 million in options daily.” The FBI’s investigation revealed that “Sazonov allegedly took elaborate steps to conceal his attempted theft, including camouflaging pieces of source code within harmless-looking draft emails on his work computer.” The criminal complaint alleges that Sazonov efforts to steal the code began in February 2017 when he learned his supervisor had resigned.
The Defendant is charged with one count of attempted theft of trade secrets, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The charges contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the Defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Complaint: http://src.bna.com/nVJ