Mintz Levin Represents Volcano Corporation Subsidiary Axsun Technologies in Final Superior Court Ruling Involving Trade Secrets
2/16/2011
Boston, MA – Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. recently represented Volcano Corporation's wholly owned subsidiary Axsun Technologies, Inc. in a significant ruling involving trade secrets. On February 10th, the Superior Court of Massachusetts entered a Final Judgment incorporating the Court's earlier rulings rejecting the claims of LightLab Imaging that either Volcano or Axsun used LightLab trade secret information in the development of the Volcano Optical Coherence Tomography ("OCT") System or the Axsun OCT laser. LightLab is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of St. Jude Medical, Inc.
"After prolonged litigation, we are pleased by the Court's decision validating our client's position that neither Volcano nor Axsun used any of LightLab's purported trade secrets in the development of these products," said Elizabeth B. Burnett, a member of the firm's Litigation Section and lead attorney on the case.
The Final Judgment followed prior written Court decisions in which Judge Margaret Hinkle:
- Found that "Axsun indisputably has technology and product capability developed independently of LightLab during its decades of work on tunable lasers."
- Rejected as "conjecture" many of LightLab's trade secret misappropriation claims, finding an "absence of credible evidence" that either Axsun or Volcano used those trade secrets.
- Described as "circumlocutions" the sworn testimony of LightLab's Chief Technology Officer, but found the sworn testimony of Axsun, including that of Axsun's Director of Advanced Products and Technology, as "credible."
Ruled that "no contractual obligation mandated that Axsun or LightLab continue joint development beyond what the Agreement provided."
The Final Judgment found Massachusetts Consumer Protection Law (Chapter 93A) violations; with respect to conduct of Volcano and Axsun that occurred primarily in late 2008 and 2009. The Final Judgment awarded damages to LightLab of only $600,000, although LightLab initially claimed damages of over $200 million. In addition, the Final Judgment reimbursed LightLab mandatory attorneys' fees and costs in the amount of $4.5 million, although LightLab requested $8.9 million.
The Final Judgment rejected the vast majority of LightLab's trade secret claims. The Court reiterated its previous findings that only three items were trade secrets misappropriated by Volcano and Axsun, none of which are relevant to or used in either Volcano's or Axsun's business operations. The Judge merely ordered that Volcano could not see or use the following: (i) the specification for the Axsun laser formerly supplied to LightLab; (ii) the specification for the Axsun laser currently supplied to LightLab; and (iii) one Axsun prototype laser made in 2008. The remaining injunction terms in the Final Judgment relate to routine document destruction at the conclusion of litigation, and Volcano's voluntary agreement not to merge Axsun into Volcano for a limited period of time.
In addition to Ms. Burnett, Litigation member Larry Schoen and associates Paul Abbott, Wynter Lavier, Jehanne Bjornebye, and Rob Sheridan worked on the case.
