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Saturday, June 15, 2024

Apple fends off lawsuit from company it didn't want to buy, hired employees away from

State Court
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – “Costly” litigation against Apple has possibly come to a close with a victory in a California appeals court.

A smaller company who lost three employees to Apple was the losing party in an opinion released Sept. 30 by the Sixth Appellate District. Despite prevailing on every one of Hooked Media’s arguments, the opinion noted Apple has spent $360,000 in costs fighting the suit – not to mention attorneys fees.

Hooked Media, which developed an app to recommend apps, made a play to be bought by Apple, which instead hired away three employees. After Apple initially declined to buy Hooked, Hooked offered to sell the services of three employees to Apple to give it a cash boost.

Apple declined that arrangement too. Instead, it simply hired the three. Hooked lost its arguments that Apple deceived it during negotiations then used its trade secrets after hiring them.

“Hooked relies on circumstantial evidence that in its view generates an inference of trade secret use sufficient to create a triable issue of fact as to that element: its former employees were assigned to tasks at Apple similar to the work they did at Hooked and within weeks one of them produced a detailed plan for a recommendations system much like Hooked’s version,” Justice Adrienne Grover wrote.

“Further, an expert opined that the source code for Apple’s recommendations system was similar to the source code for Hooked’s. That evidence does suggest the engineers drew on knowledge and skills they gained from Hooked to develop a product for their new employer – but California’s policy favoring free mobility for employees specifically allows that.”

Apple spent $92,000 on e-discovery, $139,000 for depositions and more than $88,000 on hotels, meals and internet access.

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