Financial Week
June 3, 2008
A California Court of Appeals ruling late last week could have a far-reaching impact on companies accused of stealing trade secrets.
The ruling was in favor of an appeal of a lower court’s ruling by Cypress Semiconductor of San Jose, California. Cypress is one of 12 semiconductor firms sued by Silvaco Data Systems of Santa Clara for indirectly misappropriating trade secrets after Cypress purchased semiconductor software from a third party.
Silvaco claimed that Cypress and the other companies had stolen its proprietary software source code and integrated it into their own software products, which it then sold. Silvaco has sought billions of dollars in claims, arguing that the defendants’ semiconductor sales represented misappropriation of its product.
