Zynga v. Patmore
California Superior Court
No. CGC-12-525099 (2012)
- Written by Abby Roughton, JD
Facts
Zynga, Inc. (plaintiff) was a California-based online social-gaming company that had created games including FarmVille, CityVille, Words With Friends, and CastleVille. In 2012, Zynga brought an action in California state court against Alan Patmore (defendant), the former general manager of Zynga’s CityVille game. Zynga alleged that Patmore had access to Zynga’s data and other trade secrets during his employment and had signed a confidentiality agreement that prevented Patmore from using or disclosing Zynga’s proprietary materials during and after his employment. Zynga alleged that, despite that confidentiality agreement, Patmore had illegally and intentionally stolen Zynga’s information prior to leaving Zynga. Specifically, Zynga claimed that Patmore had copied more than 760 Zynga files from Patmore’s Zynga-issued computer, including (1) Zynga’s internal assessment of game features, (2) past and future plans for monetizing games, (3) game-design information for a game still in development, (4) game-design documents for other unreleased games, (5) revenue information, (6) employee information, (7) strategic information, and (8) emails, including confidential communications that had been sent to Patmore and other Zynga executive staff over a 14-month period. Zynga alleged that Patmore had left Zynga to work for Kixeye, one of Zynga’s competitors in the social-gaming industry. Zynga asserted that Kixeye had not achieved Zynga’s level of success in the industry and had publicly expressed animus toward Zynga. Zynga further asserted that Kixeye could use the data that Patmore had stolen to compete more effectively with Zynga. Zynga alleged claims for trade-secret misappropriation and breach of contract. Zynga sought damages and injunctive relief that would prohibit Patmore and anyone working with Patmore from keeping, accessing, using, or disclosing any of Zynga’s data.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
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