Nilssen v. Motorola, Inc.
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
963 F. Supp. 664 (1997)

- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
Ole Nilssen (plaintiff) repeatedly tried to interest Motorola, Inc. (defendant) in his electronic-ballast technology. As part of this effort, Nilssen provided Motorola with numerous technical documents and nontechnical business and financial information, all of which Nilssen marked as confidential. Motorola spurned Nilssen’s overtures but later decided to enter the electronic-ballast market on its own. Nilssen sued Motorola in federal court for trade-secret misappropriation. During discovery, Nilssen’s answers to Motorola’s interrogatories only vaguely described what trade secrets Nilssen accused Motorola of having misappropriated. Nilssen suggested only that the pieces of his confidential information were so interwoven that they must have motivated and provided the footing for Motorola’s decision to enter the electronic-ballast business. Eventually, however, Nilssen submitted a court memorandum that substantially narrowed his claim to a handful of technical and nontechnical items in the confidential documents he gave Motorola. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Shadur, J.)
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