Company sues ex-employee after reading e-mail
Thursday, June 25, 1998
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A Pittsburgh-area executive took his
talents elsewhere, but he left behind e-mail messages that his
former employer says are evidence of wrongdoing.
Fore Systems Inc. charged Wednesday that in his last few days
as an employee, Eric W. Bell disclosed trade secrets to a
competitor -- Cisco Systems Inc., based in San Jose, Calif. -- via
three e-mail messages.
''This information was discovered only recently when certain
e-mail messages sent by defendant via plaintiff's e-mail system
came to light,'' the lawsuit said.
Fore Systems sued Bell, who was its former program manager
for special projects, in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.
Both corporations design and make computer-networking
equipment, but Cisco is the world's biggest such company. In the
most recent quarter, it reported sales revenues of $2.18 billion
compared to Fore Systems' $131 million.
A call to Bell's home in Highlands Ranch, Colo., was not returned
immediately. Stacey Clark O'Hara, a spokeswoman for Cisco
Systems in San Jose, said executives there had not seen the
lawsuit and therefore could not comment.
After accepting a job with Cisco, Bell stayed with Fore Systems
until June 10, long enough to attend a meeting with a major
customer, which the lawsuit identified as an intelligence agency of
the U.S. government.
One of the e-mail messages contained the agency's confidential
requirements and the substance of technical discussions with the
agency, the lawsuit said. Another message, forwarded from a
fellow Fore executive, concerned products using new technology
that was under development.
The lawsuit charges Bell with breach of contract, duty and good
faith as well as unfair competition and misappropriation of
trade-secret information, and it asks for an unnamed sum in
damages.
It also asks the court to force Bell to quit his Cisco job and return
any documents or data he has about Fore Systems' trade secrets.
Fore Systems spokesman Rich Borden said the company has a
policy of not commenting on litigation.
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