The most successful businesses begin with an idea that is completely novel and unique. When a company becomes the only entity which can fulfill a customer’s needs, that business stands to make an enormous profit.
For that reason, companies which create new products or processes need to zealously guard their secrets from competitors. Without strong trade secret protections, unique ideas can become the industry standards, a business’ competitive advantages are lost.
California law is very protective of a person’s right to make a living how they want. While the law may make most non-compete agreements void, employers can still restrict former employees from taking their confidential information and using it to their advantage with a new employer …show more content…
Medolac
In 1999, Elena Medo founded Prolacta Bioscience, a laboratory which developed a process which fortified human breast milk in order to create the most nutritious food for premature and very low birth weight babies. Medo and Prolacta were the first to develop a fortifier which was created from human rather than bovine milk.
In addition, Medo developed the first commercially available human milk analyzer, which can identify the nutritional value of various women’s milk donations and select the best milk for use in creating the fortifier. Her inventions revolutionized not only the human milk donation industry, but led to the creation of the large-scale commercial processing and sale of human milk.
Medo was CEO of Prolacta for nearly ten years. She raised over $23 million in venture capital funding, but had a falling out with other members of the management. As a result, she left Prolacta in 2009, and founded Medolac Laboratories in her new home state of Oregon. Through her work with Medolac, Medo succeeded in creating the first commercially available, sterile human breast milk. This donor milk can be stored for up to three years at room temperature, and is now purchased and used by hospitals around the …show more content…
However, Prolacta believes that Medo used its trade secrets and confidential information in order to give Medolac an unfair advantage.
In a lawsuit filed in the Orange County Superior Court, attorneys for Prolacta allege that Medo took customer lists and donor lists from the company when she founded Medolac. Because both companies rely on individual donors, Prolacta believes that these lists are invaluable to continuing its business. In addition, the company believes that Medo used its trade secrets, such as its manufacturing process, in order to create its own commercially available breast milk products,
Medolac released a press statement calling the lawsuit frivolous and has accused Prolacta of trying to maintain a monopoly on the burgeoning breast milk industry. Medolac believes that Prolacta is attempting to stifle any competition by burying the company in legal paperwork and forcing it to pay extensive legal fees.
Protecting Confidential
For that reason, companies which create new products or processes need to zealously guard their secrets from competitors. Without strong trade secret protections, unique ideas can become the industry standards, a business’ competitive advantages are lost.
California law is very protective of a person’s right to make a living how they want. While the law may make most non-compete agreements void, employers can still restrict former employees from taking their confidential information and using it to their advantage with a new employer …show more content…
Medolac
In 1999, Elena Medo founded Prolacta Bioscience, a laboratory which developed a process which fortified human breast milk in order to create the most nutritious food for premature and very low birth weight babies. Medo and Prolacta were the first to develop a fortifier which was created from human rather than bovine milk.
In addition, Medo developed the first commercially available human milk analyzer, which can identify the nutritional value of various women’s milk donations and select the best milk for use in creating the fortifier. Her inventions revolutionized not only the human milk donation industry, but led to the creation of the large-scale commercial processing and sale of human milk.
Medo was CEO of Prolacta for nearly ten years. She raised over $23 million in venture capital funding, but had a falling out with other members of the management. As a result, she left Prolacta in 2009, and founded Medolac Laboratories in her new home state of Oregon. Through her work with Medolac, Medo succeeded in creating the first commercially available, sterile human breast milk. This donor milk can be stored for up to three years at room temperature, and is now purchased and used by hospitals around the …show more content…
However, Prolacta believes that Medo used its trade secrets and confidential information in order to give Medolac an unfair advantage.
In a lawsuit filed in the Orange County Superior Court, attorneys for Prolacta allege that Medo took customer lists and donor lists from the company when she founded Medolac. Because both companies rely on individual donors, Prolacta believes that these lists are invaluable to continuing its business. In addition, the company believes that Medo used its trade secrets, such as its manufacturing process, in order to create its own commercially available breast milk products,
Medolac released a press statement calling the lawsuit frivolous and has accused Prolacta of trying to maintain a monopoly on the burgeoning breast milk industry. Medolac believes that Prolacta is attempting to stifle any competition by burying the company in legal paperwork and forcing it to pay extensive legal fees.
Protecting Confidential