Federal Court Issues Injunction Against Language Services Associates and Employees

redOrbit is carrying a piece on a federal court injunction allegedly issued on February 15th in favor of Language Line Services and against against Language Services Associates LLC (LSA), and William Schwartz and Patrick Curtin - two former employees of Language Line Services who are accused of conspiring to take trade secrets and confidential information from their former employer to their new employer.

The injunction prohibits LSA, Schwartz and Curtin from "contacting, communicating, soliciting, dealing, or doing business with any of the customers or their representatives" on a list of over 1200 of Language Line Services' top customers that Language Line Services alleges was taken by the former employees and subsequently used by LSA. The injunction also prohibits the defendants in the suit from using, copying or destroying materials that Schwartz and Curtin allegedly took from Language Line Services. The company filed suit in June for misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract.

U.S. District Judge James Ware, who granted the preliminary injunction, said there is no dispute that LSA, Schwartz and Curtin improperly acquired and used the information. We'd imagine Language Line Services proved this impropriety through the use of computer forensic examination but we'll report back if we find more information regarding this case.

This case proves that California law will still punish certain types of unfair competition, even if their business law will usually not permit the use of noncompete agreements with employees.