I have written numerous posts about corporate espionage but I recognize there is still some mystique to the word espionage so I look for real life examples of espionage cases to demonstrate. Here is one from my home state of Texas and the fact pattern, as alleged, fits nicely with what I describe as insider corporate espionage. That is, the espionage is being facilitated by someone inside the company being targeted.
The gist of this case is that a high level employee from one company, Schlumberger, surreptitiously took company trade secrets by downloading them to USB drives and then left the company to go work for a competitor, Baker Hughes.
The lawsuit alleges that Humair Shaikh, who worked at Schlumberger from 1998 until March of this year when he took over at Baker Hughes, violated confidentiality and noncompete agreements by taking trade secrets on four different USB drives when he left. Shaikh was working as the “high-level, highly compensated” operations manager for a “highly confidential next generation stimulation project called DASUS that included pressure pumping, proppants and multistage completion technologies,” according to the lawsuit filed in state district court in Harris County.
Read more via Schlumberger sues new Baker Hughes VP Humair Shaikh – Houston Business Journal.
This is a very common scenario that happens all the time to businesses all around the world. Where it will really get interesting, however, is if it comes out that Baker Hughes knew of or encouraged him to take the information — if so, then we will see a real battle between these two energy giants.
About the author
Shawn Tuma is a lawyer who is experienced in representing and advising clients on digital business risk which includes complex digital information law and intellectual property issues. This includes things such as trade secrets litigation and misappropriation of trade secrets (under common law and the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act), unfair competition, and cyber crimes such as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; helping companies with data security issues from assessing their data security strengths and vulnerabilities, helping them implement policies and procedures for better securing their data, preparing data breach incident response plans, leading them through responses to a data breach, and litigating disputes that have arisen from data breaches. Shawn is a partner at BrittonTuma, a boutique business law firm with offices near the border of Frisco and Plano, Texas which is located minutes from the District Courts of Collin County, Texas and the Plano Court of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas. He represents clients in lawsuits across the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex including state and federal courts in Collin County, Denton County, Dallas County, and Tarrant County, which are all courts in which he regularly handles cases (as well as throughout the nation pro hac vice). Tuma regularly serves as a consultant to other lawyers on issues within his area of expertise and also serves as local counsel for attorneys with cases in the District Courts of Collin County, Texas, the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, and the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas.
Filed under: Corporate Espionage
