E*Trade Escapes Enrichment Claims

(CN) – ETrade 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 ETrade 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 ETrade had earned $300 million. ETrade 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.