Lawyer Wins $5 million Judgment Against Konica Minolta

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Intellectual property lawyers win trade secrets case for Altavion
Local intellectual property lawyers representing a small Silicon Valley company in a complex trade secrets case have won a $5 million judgment against Konica Minolta Systems Laboratories Inc.Attorneys John Costello and Glenn Peterson teamed up to represent Altavion Inc., which had developed a number of proprietary technologies that detect document changes. The technology has implications for detection of check fraud, altered health records and other instances when there are questions about altered records.

The lawsuit was fallout from efforts to reach a licensing agreement with Konica Minolta in 2004. There were about 40 meetings that year to discuss the matter, under auspices of a non-disclosure agreement, according to Costello. A memorandum of understanding signed in August 2004 promised to recognize Altavion’s proprietary technology and keep it confidential.There was an amicable parting, but in 2006, but Altavion began noticing patent applications allegedly encompassing Altavion’s technology.

The company sued for trade secret misappropriation in San Mateo County Superior Court.A $5 million judgment in favor of Altavion, reached in November, was finalized last month. The company won $1 million in damages, $513,400 in prejudgment interest, almost $3.3 million in attorneys’ fees, $79,778 in expert fees ad $93,813 in costs.“This is what I like to do,” Costello said of the case. “It’s fun to represent the small party that may not always have access to justice.”Bryan Wilson, an attorney in the Palo Alto office of Morrison & Foerster LLP    who is part of the legal team that represented Tokyo-based Konica Minolta, said Altavion asked for $2.4 billion. The Japanese company has filed notice of appeal.

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July 10, 2012 at 8:41 AM