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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

E*Trade Escapes Enrichment Claims

(CN) - E*Trade was not unjustly enriched by its misappropriation of another company's trade secrets because it lost money using them, a California appeals court ruled.

Ajaxo Inc. successfully sued E*Trade for misappropriation of trade secrets regarding stock trading through wireless devices. A second trial took place on the issue of unjust enrichment.

The jury heard evidence from Ajaxo that E*Trade had earned $300 million. E*Trade countered that it had lost $2 million.

The trial court ruled in E*Trade's favor, and Justice Eugene Premo of the San Jose-based Sixth California Court of Appeals agreed. He rejected Ajaxo's argument that it should have received a royalty payment.

"We conclude that where a defendant has not realized a profit or other calculable benefit as a result of his or her misappropriation of a trade secret, unjust enrichment is not provable," Premo ruled.

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