It’s the ultimate clash of the titans.  In a dispute over the Google Wallet payment service allegedly infringing on the trade secrets of eBay’s PayPal service, the May 27, 2011 lawsuit was filed.  The claims revolved around former eBay executives, Osama Bedier and Stephanie Tilenius revealing proprietary information to Google.

The events leading up to the dispute between the Silicon Valley giants began with what seemed like an amicable relationship.  For two years, Google negotiated with eBay to have PayPal process payments for an Android app.  Suddenly, Google cut off negotiations.

Turns out, the halt in discussions ended soon after Google hired Bedier, a nine-year PayPal executive.  Tilenius is accused of encouraging Bedier to leave PayPal.  The Complaint alleges that prior to leaving eBay, Bedier downloaded PayPal’s proprietary secrets into an Internet storage locker called DropBox.  But even without this alleged transfer of trade secret information, Bedier and other eBay executives were subject to a five year non-solicitation covenant.

Most lawsuits involving these issues do not involve corporate giants.  Employment agreements and trade secrets disputes arise in businesses of all sizes.  If you have a question about these topics, contact an attorney experienced in corporate and intellectual property litigation.

Filed under: Civil Litigation, Copyrights, Corporate Law, Patents, Trademarks by Yau Jo-Anne Sunday, May 29th, 2011