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California Civil Procedure, Keyed to Levine, 6th Ed.
Align Technology, Inc. v. Tran
Citation:
179 Cal. App. 4th 949, 102 Cal. Rptr. 3d 343 (2009)Facts
Align Technology hired Bao Tran in March 2000 to manage its intellectual property portfolio, including patent prosecution and licensing. Tran signed an Employee Proprietary Information and Inventions Agreement assigning to Align any inventions conceived during his employment. In January 2005, Align placed Tran on administrative leave after learning he assisted competitor OrthoClear with confidential information, and terminated him in February 2005. Align then sued Tran and others in San Francisco Superior Court. Tran cross-complained for wrongful termination and breach of contract regarding stock options. Align answered the cross-complaint on May 30, 2006, without filing its own cross-complaint. The case settled in October 2006. In January 2008, Align filed a new lawsuit alleging Tran had operated an unauthorized side law business (Tran & Associates) using company resources, filed patent applications for himself that belonged to Align, and made unauthorized charges to Align’s U.S. Patent and Trademark Office account. Align claimed it discovered the side business in June 2005 from client phone calls and a forensic computer search, and learned of the patent misappropriation in June 2006 after analyzing U.S.P.T.O. filings showing Tran filed fifty-three applications for his business versus only six for Align during 2004-2005.
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