Worldwide Intellectual Property Case

Two employees and a manager left a large chemical manufacturing company with offices and facilities in New York, New Jersey, Texas, China and Argentina. The two employees and the manager had emailed a customer contact database, invoicing information, financial data and proprietary information to their home computer in an attempt to steal intellectual property. The employees believed they were untraceable since they emailed the information to their home computers and deleted the emails. The allegations were firmly denied. The company receiving the information denied having any knowledge of the transfer or the existence of the information acquired from the client's company.

GDF worked with the attorneys to draft discovery requests, write questions for interrogatories and depositions and ultimately analyze data received from opposing counsel. After identifying several sources of evidence, including the mail servers that received the information, several sets of backup tapes and the database itself, GDF was able to extract relevant data from those sources. The desktop systems used by the former employees were forensically analyzed and the original emails were extracted. GDF correlated dates, times, email and related records to support counsel’s assessment of the transfer and the receiving company’s knowledge.

The reconstructed emails and correlated records supported counsel's assessment of the transfer and the receiving company's knowledge. GDF later assisted with discovery planning, deposition support and further data correlation.

The technical work concerned whether the transfer occurred and what the receiving company knew. A correlation report supports counsel’s assessment; it does not by itself determine the legal consequences or the amount of damages.