A US Federal judge has overturned a $72m Boeing payout after an intellectual property case was re-examined.
In 2020, Zunum Aero accused the aircraft giant of accessing its “trade secrets” and using the information to design its own aircraft. But that jury verdict was overruled by Judge James L. Robart of the US District Court for the Western District of Washington.
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He said Zunum Aero had failed to prove the information in question met the standards of “trade secret” status.
The claimant provided “only vague and amorphous descriptions” which fell “well short of providing the specific concrete examples” needed to classify the information as different from generally understood industry knowledge.
“Clarity does not require a tome… It does, however, require the plaintiff to take the time to ‘separate [its] trade secrets from the other information’ known to or ascertainable by the industry,” the judge wrote in his decision.
Because the case failed at the first question, the law determined it was unnecessary to examine how Boeing came across the information, and how it was used.
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By GlobalDataThe original trial ordered Boeing to pay Zunum $81.2 million for trade secrets theft ($20m was later deducted), and $11.5 million for business interference damages, relating to an alleged breach of investment rules.
The original claim alleged Boeing had accessed business plans, market data and technical analysis via a due diligence process “under the pretext of a strategic investment in Zunum.”
