Roger Fingas
Jawbone is suing rival fitness tracker maker Fitbit, accusing the latter of "systematically plundering" corporate secrets by hiring Jawbone workers who smuggled sensitive data before exiting the company.
The case was filed Wednesday in the California State Court in San Francisco, according to the New York Times. In the complaint, Fitbit recruiters are alleged to have contact almost a third of Jawbone staff early in 2015. Some of the people who left are claimed to have used USB thumb drives to save data about Jawbone's current and future plans, and then deleted system logs and/or used apps to cover their tracks.
A given example is Ana Rosario, who Jawbone said Fitbit hired as a user experience researcher on April 16. The complaint states that Rosario didn't announce her intention to leave Jawbone until April 22, and that on April 20, she attended a meeting with the firm's senior director of product management to discuss future plans and downloaded a "playbook" of future Jawbone products.
In an exit interview Rosario initially denied taking confidential data but later admitted to having a copy of a "Market Trends & Opportunities" presentation.
In another example, audio specialist Patrick Narron was said to have given his two-week notice on April 8 saying we has leaving for another job, but without mentioning it was Fitbit. Narron purportedly emailed himself confidential data several times.
On April 17, Fitbit's chief people officer called Jawbone and acknowledged poaching without mentioning any data theft. In statements made to the Times, Fitbit denied any wrongdoing and promised to "vigorously" defend itself. Jawbone is asking the court for financial compensation and measures to prevent its ex-employees from using the stolen data.
Fitbit is on the verge of an initial public stock offering, which the Jawbone lawsuit could potentially harm. Jawbone has meanwhile been having problems of its own, including production issues which delayed the launch of its Up3 fitness band. It has also yet to turn a profit, although it did recently raise $300 million in funding.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
15 Comments
If true, then Fitbit is indeed a dirty company.
Well Jawbone would have to show Fitbit was aware of these employees intentions to take Jawbone's data and bring it to Fitbit. Obviously you can not stop someone from bringing what they have in their heads, but Jawbone has a bigger issue with the employess then with Fitbit. Most likely this will end with the employee being fired and Fitbit paying legal fees. The other question would be what the exit interview consisted of and was the employee told about which information they had in their position even in their head was considered Jawbone company confidential. Unless Jawbone can show Fitbit was aware of the data thieft and allowed it to be used at the company they will have a difficult fight, but this will defenitely put an end to the poaching for a while.
All tech companies do this, including Apple.
Obviously you can not stop something to bringing what they have in their heads, but Jawbone has a bigger issue with the employess then with Fitbit.
Exactly. All tech companies do this, including Apple. They lure away competent professionals for what is in their heads, not necessarily trade secrets, but experience they gained while working for others. That is invaluable information. If an executive happens to know trade secrets, its on the employee not to disclose that information. Of course, that information informs the employee with respect to their work at another company, it's impossible for it not to.
[quote name="Mac_128" url="/t/186463/jawbone-sues-fitbit-for-systematically-plundering-confidential-data#post_2728145"]All tech companies do this, including Apple. Exactly. All tech companies do this, including Apple. They lure away competent professionals for what is in their heads, not necessarily trade secrets, but experience they gained while working for others. That is invaluable information. If an executive happens to know trade secrets, its on the employee not to disclose that information. Of course, that information informs the employee with respect to their work at another company, it's impossible for it not to. [/quote] The difference here is that employees were emailing company info to themselves. Not necessarily an issue for fitbit but the employee will soon see themselves in court. We have had to present similar employee activity for clients in the UK when staff have left and sent client lists etc to themselves to take to their new employer. It really doesn't end well for the employee.
The statement "All tech companies do this, including Apple" is absurd. First, the statement has no basis in fact; Second, the issue here is twofold: a) the employees in question were no doubt under legal agreements NOT to disseminate proprietary information, so they can (and probably will) be prosecuted; b) whether Fitbit knew about this activity will have be be proved; c) the very fact that it occurred with more than one employee lends credence to Jawbone's lawsuit. Third, to make the blanket declaration that "everybody does it" reminds me of high school. There is no proof that "all tech companies do this," and I seriously doubt that this type of blatant theft happens in more than a few sleazier companies.