Facts

Wellogix Inc. brought an action relating to trade secrets against SAP AG and SAP America Inc.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff alleged that it was the owner of certain patents pertaining to software for the electronic procurement of goods and services in complex projects by oil companies. Plaintiff further alleged that after it entered into an agreement with defendants for purposes of integrating plaintiff's software with certain software of defendants, defendants began using plaintiff's technology and incorporated it into its own software products. Plaintiff alleged that the defendants' actions constituted misappropriation of trade secrets.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendants argued that plaintiff's claims were barred by a forum-selection clause in their agreement requiring claims to be brought in Germany. Defendants further argued that plaintiff's claims were barred by claim preclusion and issue preclusion due to an earlier dismissal in a Texas state court case between the parties.

Result

The court granted the defendants motion for summary judgment. The court held, in part, that the forum-selection clause was enforceable with regard to plaintiff's trade secret claims and that the German courts provided an available alternative forum for the claims to be brought.

Other Information

FILING DATE: March 21, 2014.