Facts

Objective Interface Systems Inc. filed suit against Vertel Corp.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff alleged that defendant was interested in the ORBexpress product to try and gain a competitive edge in the Common Object Request Broker Architecture market. Plaintiff claimed that the product contained trade secrets, such as source code, object code, unique operating methods, unique interpretations, unique techniques for minimizing software memory usage, and unique balance between features and functions.

Plaintiff argued that the product's license agreement acknowledged that all confidential materials, including software and related materials, constituted valuable, proprietary, copyrighted and trade secret protected material. It further contended that defendant was aware of the product's proprietary nature and had attempted to obtain the product by engaging other companies before contacting plaintiff under the guise of being a fictitious company and obtaining the product.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant denied the allegations and claimed it did not engage in any illegal activity related to the product.

Damages

Plaintiff sought $1,158,528 in royalties, attorney fees and costs.

Result

The court granted plaintiff's motion for a default judgment and awarded $1,158,528 in royalties and $26,771 in attorney fees for a total of $1,185,299. Plaintiff was also awarded costs.

Other Information

Plaintiff originally filed suit against Cyrus D. Irani, Tonia G. Graham, Koert Blom, and Shazad Aslam-Mir, who were all current or former employees of defendant, for misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud, breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation and false promises. Aslam-Mir settled with plaintiff for a confidential amount prior to trial. Irani, Graham and Bloom filed a third-party claim against John Singer, an employee of plaintiff. The claims against Singer, Irani, Graham and Bloom were later settled and the claims were dismissed with prejudice. Jenkens & Gilchrist LLP originally represented defendant, but withdrew as counsel of record, leaving defendant without representation. Shortly thereafter, Jenkens & Gilchrist stopped providing legal services and its Los Angeles office joined Baker & Hostetler.