Lab instrument maker accuses rival of stealing trade secrets
Pennsylvania-based E A Fischione Instruments (EAF) has taken a rival lab instrument manufacturer to court over the alleged theft of trade secrets related to specimen holders for transmission electron microscopes.
In a suit filed Thursday, October 29 at the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, EAF accused Simple Origin’s CEO of disclosing trade secrets he’d been provided with during his time at EAF and using them for his own company.
Pushkarraj Deshmukh, the CEO of Simple Origin, had allegedly worked as both a design engineer and independent contractor consultant at EAF.
Before this, Deshmukh was a graduate PhD student whose work was supervised, in part, by EAF president Paul Fischione and related closely to specimen holder design, according to the claim.
“Defendant Deshmukh also had extensive access to confidential information about EAF’s customers, prospective customers, market requirements, and business practices, including complete customer lists and certain financial information,” said the complaint. “In short, defendant Deshmukh had regular access to, and deep knowledge of, the EAF trade secrets and other confidential information.”
EAF claimed that Simple represents the compatibility of its holders with JEOL and Thermo Fisher transmission electron microscopes and that, in order to manufacture commercially salable and usable holders, Simple would have to be in possession of the OEM specifications.
The suit added: “Development of new specimen holders typically requires years of development and testing, particularly if the exacting standards of the OEM specifications are to be met.
“Defendant Simple has hired at least two former EAF employees who possess deep domain expertise in transmission electron microscope specimen holder technology.”
According to EAF, instead of legitimately obtaining specifications or critical manufacturing information, Simple has instead “unlawfully leveraged” EAF’s trade secrets.
EAF has asked the court for a permanent injunction and damages.
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