The man, Alpha’s sales and marketing manager at the time, was found guilty by 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Robert W. McDonald Jr. of giving a pair of overseas competitors everything they needed to steal business away from the Sarasota company.
"Alpha has suffered and continues to suffer irreparable damage as a result of defendant’s misappropriation of Alpha’s confidential, proprietary and trade secret information," McDonald wrote.
Jennifer Compton, an attorney with the Sarasota law firm Abel Band who worked on behalf of Alpha, said the win in the trade secret case was huge for her client.
"This is one of the larger ones in Sarasota County history," Compton said. "This is a very big deal for them. They were almost out of business."
Whether the individual has the wherewithal to pay the $19.7 million remains to be seen.
McDonald found that in early 2005, the individual began working for China-based competitor Guizhou Tire Co. while still employed with Alpha. He would take Guizhou tire orders on his wife’s cell phone and through his personal e-mail account to avoid detection.
He also handed over pricing and profit margin information and customer lists to Guizhou, which paid him a commission on every tire sold, records show.
Beginning in August 2005, the man then went to work for Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Al Dobowi Group, an upstart mining company, and allegedly gave Dobowi all of Alpha’s trade secrets, from pricing information to its customer list to the design blueprints for Alpha’s specialty tires, court records say.
The blueprints alone are a wealth of information, containing all the specifications of building a very unique set of tires designed to work in mines worldwide – from the tread design to the rim flange heights to the ply ratings.
Court documents stated "defendant advised Alpha’s customers that they could receive the same specialized ‘Alpha’ tires by dealing directly through" Guizhou, the Chinese company.
Alpha’s losses mounted quickly, court records show.
For example, two major U.S. tire distributors were buying a combined average of $1.9 million per month from Alpha until April 2005, when they stopped buying anything.
From April 1, 2005, to Jan. 15, 2008, Alpha lost more than $10 million from one of the distributors alone, the court found.
At $19.7 million, the penalty ranks among the largest trade secret judgments in recent Florida history, and represents only compensatory damages. The court is expected to award punitive damages and lawyer’s fees during a Mar. 11 hearing. (Tire Review/Akron)
