Pawelko v. Hasbro, Inc.

Marisa Pawelko (plaintiff) tried to interest Hasbro, Inc. (defendant) in Pawelko’s concept for a multifunctional craft pen, which Pawelko called Liquid Mosaic. Hasbro rejected Pawelko’s proposal but later marketed similar products of its own. Pawelko sued Hasbro for misappropriating her trade secret. Hasbro moved for summary judgment and urged the federal district court to focus on Pawelko’s case through the narrow lens of Liquid Mosaic’s trade-secret status. Hasbro claimed that (1) other manufacturers’ preexisting products embodied every element of Pawelko’s concept for Liquid Mosaic, (2) Hasbro was already developing its own products when Pawelko presented her concept, and (3) Pawelko had previously made public the essential elements of her concept through craft shows and Internet presentations. Pawelko urged the court to see her case through a broader lens that brought Hasbro’s own behavior into view. Pawelko rebutted Hasbro’s claims with (1) the testimony of Hasbro’s own expert, who could not identify a single preexisting product that incorporated Liquid Mosaic’s elements; (2) emails revealing internal Hasbro discussions about renewing talks with Pawelko should Liquid Mosaic become a better fit for Hasbro’s marketing strategy; (3) evidence that Hasbro used the word mosaic in several potential names for its own products, even though neither those products nor Liquid Mosaic were suitable for making actual mosaics; and (4) Pawelko’s own claim that Pawelko never revealed her concept in public to the depth and breadth with which she discussed Liquid Mosaic with Hasbro.