by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:55 AM ET, Thu August 15, 2024
Boeing received some positive news on Wednesday as a federal
judge in Seattle vacated a jury's $72 million trade secrets verdict against the
airplane manufacturer.
According to Reuters.com,
United States District Judge James Robart ruled that electric-aircraft startup
Zunum Aero’s lawsuit was invalid since the company did not provide proof that
Boeing used information that was eligible for “trade-secret protection.”
In response, officials from Zunum announced they would
appeal the court’s decision, which they called disappointing. A Boeing
spokesperson said the company was grateful for the “careful and thorough
consideration of all the evidence at trial to reach this decision.”
The Zunum lawsuit was filed in 2020 after the electric aircraft
company said Boeing pulled investment money previously committed to developing
a small commuter plane after “Boeing developed its own hybrid commuter aircraft
using Zunum's trade secrets.”
In May, a federal jury awarded Zunum nearly $81.2 million
from Boeing for trade secret theft and $11.6 for tortious interference. The
court reduced the total awarded to $72 million based on “damages that Zunum
could have mitigated.”
As part of his ruling, Judge Robart said the fine was “unjustified”
since Zunum did not sufficiently identify “its secrets or demonstrated that
they derived value from being kept secret.”
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