Jawbone suing Fitbit over poaching of employees and confidential information

On employees joining competitors, from the NYTimes on Jawbone suing Fitbit in California State Court :


According to the complaint, recruiters for Fitbit contacted nearly a third of Jawbone’s employees early this year. Some of those employees then decided to leave, but before doing so downloaded information like Jawbone’s current and future business plans and products. Those individuals used thumb drives to download files and used programs to cover their tracks or deleted system logs, according to the court filing.

One now-former employee, Ana Rosario, was hired by Fitbit as a user experience researcher around April 16, but did not disclose that she planned to leave Jawbone until April 22, the complaint said. On April 20, according to the complaint, Ms. Rosario held a meeting with Jawbone’s senior director of product management to discuss the company’s future plans and then downloaded what the company said was a “playbook” outlining its future products.

During her exit interviews, Ms. Rosario initially denied taking confidential information, but later admitted to downloading its “Market Trends & Opportunities” presentation.

Another employee who specialized in audio products, Patrick Narron, told Jawbone on April 8 that he planned to leave in two weeks to take another job — but did not disclose that he was heading to Fitbit, and was allowed to stay. The complaint claims that Mr. Narron sent confidential information about future products to his personal email address several times, in violation of corporate policy.



link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/business/dealbook/jawbone-sues-fitbit-over-data-plundering-by-ex-employees.html?_r=0