By: Patricia Hurtado

Samarth Agrawal, the former Societe Generale trader accused of stealing the bank's computer code for high-frequency trading, should be tried partly behind closed doors to protect the company's trade secrets, the U.S. said.

Agrawal, arrested in April, was charged by federal prosecutors with theft of trade secrets. The government said Agrawal, hired by Societe Generale in New York in March 2007 to work as a quantitative analyst in the high-frequency trading group, made copies of one part of the code he'd been given access to and another part he wasn't allowed to have.

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By: Edvard Pettersson

The trial of a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. computer programmer should be held in part behind closed doors to protect the securities firm's trade secrets, prosecutors said.

The government will introduce evidence at the trial, which is scheduled to start Nov. 29, to show that information Sergey Aleynikov is accused of stealing were Goldman Sachs trade secrets, prosecutors said in a filing yesterday in federal court in Manhattan. Aleynikov's defense will try to show the information wasn't secret, prosecutors said.

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By BONGANI MDAKANE and KIM HAWKEY

After going all out to stop a former employee selling its trade secrets, Sasol Technology has dropped a R25-million damages claim and settled for an interdict instead.

Just over a week ago, the company, which forms part of energy and chemicals group Sasol, and long-time employee Arno de Klerk, agreed to end the acrimony that at one point prompted Sasol to hire private investigators to raid his home and office.

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By Grant McCool

French bank Societe Generale's speed-trading secrets, a young man from India accused of stealing them and a failed government bid to close parts of the criminal trial are just some of the elements of a New York jury trial starting Monday.

Added to this mixture is another case involving a former computer programer of Wall Street's most influential bank, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The trial of Sergey Aleynikov is scheduled for November 29 on charges that he stole code in 2009 to take to his new employer, Teza Technologies LLC, a high-frequency trading start-up in Chicago.

U.S. prosecutors asked the judges in both cases to close the courtroom for those parts of the trial containing trading details so the banks would "not be re-victimized when their trade secrets are disclosed to the public and their competitors."

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An Indian-origin former employee of pharma company Bristol-Myers-Squibb has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from the drug manufacturer so that he could set up his own business in India.

Shalin Jhaveri, 30, entered a guilty plea to a one-count charge of theft of trade secrets.

A Syracuse, New York resident, Jhaveri faces up to 10 years in prison, a USD 250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release and deportation, US Attorney for the Northern District of New York Richard Hartunian said in a statement.

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By: Grant McCool
Reuters

A former Societe Generale trader admitted he took home printouts of the French bank's speed-trading code, admitted sharing it with a prospective employer and that it was wrong, an odd twist in the criminal trial over trade secrets theft.

The trial of Samarth Agrawal, a citizen of India, is expected to go to the jury in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday or Friday, but the presiding judge all but called it over.

"Frankly, I'm puzzled by the present situation," Judge Jed Rakoff said. "The defendant has admitted all essential elements of at least the first count of the indictment and probably the second count."

By: MATTHEW DOLAN

A former Ford Motor Co. engineer who went to work for a Chinese competitor pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to two counts of stealing trade secrets, prosecutors said.

Xiang Dong Yu, aka Mike Yu, of Beijing, China, is expected to return to court in Detroit on Feb. 23 for sentencing. According to his plea agreement, the 49-year-old should receive a prison term between 63 and 78 months based on losses worth more than $50 million to Ford, according to his plea agreement with prosecutors. He remains in federal custody.

The plea deal also requires that Mr. Yu be deported after his time behind bars.

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BOSTON: An Indian-origin former employee of pharma company Bristol-Myers-Squibb has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from the drug manufacturer so that he could set up his own business in India.

A Syracuse, New York resident, Jhaveri faces up to 10 years in prison, a USD 250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release and deportation, US Attorney for the Northern District of New York Richard Hartunian said in a statement.

Jhaveri, who holds a Ph.D, also agreed to be deported from the US after completion of any jail term imposed. He cannot seek relief or appeal his order of deportation. After being deported Jhaveri would never be able to seek re-entry into the United States.

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By: Jim Kim

When it comes to high-profile trials of software programmers accused of stealing proprietary code, the government is seeking to close part of the testimony to outsiders. The goal is to protect confidential programming techniques and perhaps actual code.

Prosecutors have made this requested in two trials: the trial of Sergey Aleynikov, the former Goldman Sachs programmer, and more recently the trial of Samarth Agrawal, a former programmer at Societe General. Bother trials are scheduled for this month.

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By Patricia Hurtado and Bob Van Voris
(Bloomberg)

Former Societe Generale SA trader Samarth Agrawal was found guilty of stealing trade secrets related to the bank's high-speed computer trading software.

A federal court jury in New York today delivered the verdict at the end of a two-week trial. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff set Agrawal's sentencing for Feb. 24.

Rakoff said after the verdict that, for sentencing, he will consider that Agrawal admitted during the trial that he committed a theft of trade secrets.

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By Andy Fixmer
(Bloomberg)

Walt Disney Co.'s Playdom settled a lawsuit filed by Zynga Game Network Inc., the biggest maker of games on Facebook, alleging theft of trade secrets.

Disney is moving ahead with plans to use Playdom, the Mountain View, California-based maker of "Social City," to expand its presence on social-network websites including Facebook Inc., with more than 500 million users worldwide. Disney acquired the company in August for $563.2 million.

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