Medical device maker Becton Dickinson is suing its rival Cytek Biosciences, claiming that former employees who moved to Cytek stole trade secrets, according The Recorder.
Restricted Information
The company is claiming that Cytek developed cytometer devices based off its own designs after hiring a group of Becton employees in 2015.
Becton is alleging that the former employees downloaded “thousands of confidential and valuable technical files” before moving to Cytek. The company claims that it informed Cytek of the storage devices the former employees had obtained, but that the majority of the devices have not been recovered.
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California and names a total of ten employees.
The suit states that Cytek has not investigated the employees which allegedly ‘shared confidential Becton Dickinson information’. More so, Cytek has not looked into how the information might have been used, according to the suit.
In January, Becton began an internal investigation after a number of employees left to join Cytek and discovered that thousands of files had been downloaded.
Becton Dickinson is wanting to hold Cytek and the named employees responsible for theft and to stop any development of devices that are allegedly based off its proprietary information
