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12 February 2020AmericasSarah Morgan

Jury finds ex-Becton Dickinson engineer not guilty of trade secret theft

A Utah jury has found a former Becton Dickinson research engineer not guilty of stealing trade secrets covering the medical device company’s antiseptic products.

In July 2017, federal prosecutors accused Minh Hoang of taking tens of thousands of computer files containing Becton Dickinson’s trade secrets, removing any reference to his employer and sending them on to third parties.

The prosecutors also claimed that Hoang had developed a plan to use Becton Dickinson’s confidential business plans, product specifications, and market research to benefit a company he formed while still employed by the medical device company.

“In furtherance of this plan, on and about July 15, 2013, Hoang stole a prototype from Becton Dickinson’s facilities and sent it by mail” to another company, claimed the suit.

The claim added: “The trade secret information taken by Hoang would provide a roadmap to any skilled third party in the field to recreate Becton Dickinson’s products and technologies, and deprive Becton Dickinson of its competitive advantage.”

As part of its investigation, the US executed four warrants, including one to search Hoang’s house and one requiring Google to turn over all email data for a certain email account. Hoang the moved to suppress evidence uncovered through these warrants but, in November last year, District Judge Tena Campbell denied the motion.

However, on Monday, February 10, a jury at the US District Court for the District of Utah concluded that Hoang, who served at Becton Dickinson for 27 years, was not guilty of 11 counts of trade secret theft.

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