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1 July 2019Americas

Jury awards $2.4m in broccoli trade secrets suit

A Kentucky jury has awarded a seed company $2.4 million, after finding that an ex-employee had misappropriated trade secrets related to work on broccoli seeds and sprouts.

On Wednesday, June 26, a jury at the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, concluded that Jarrow Formulas, a nutritional supplements supplier, had stolen trade secrets from Kentucky-based Caudill Seed Company.

Caudill had sued Jarrow back in 2013, accusing the supplement company of aiding and abetting an ex-Caudill employee, who became a Jarrow employee, to unlawfully procure IP.

The Kentucky company was seeking $12 million in damages for counts including extortion, fraud and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO).

According to the claim, Caudill’s director of research submitted his resignation to the company in May 2011 and took confidential and proprietary information from Caudill, under the direction of Jarrow.

This information included research and development (R&D) relating to the extraction and isolation of certain compounds derived from broccoli seeds and sprouts. The ex-employee also allegedly took Caudill’s customer database, confidential licensing agreements, and information pending before the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Last week, after a six-year battle, the Kentucky jury concluded that Jarrow had misappropriated trade secrets related to R&D, vendor information and customer information. However, the jury only found that Jarrow had wilfully and maliciously misappropriated the R&D trade secrets.

In its verdict, the jury awarded actual losses of $2,023,000 for the R&D trade secrets theft, with $404,605 in unjust enrichment.

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