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Abbott alleges former employee took trade secrets related to COVID-19 products

By Brian Buntz | November 3, 2020

Abbott Labs files order against ex-employee

[Image from Bill Oxford on Unsplash]

Abbott Laboratories has obtained a temporary restraining order against a former marketing executive.

The company alleges the former employee stole trade secrets, including details of upcoming COVID-19 products, before accepting a role at a competitor.

Virginia Kendall, a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, decided to grant the two-week restraining order against Jerome Clavel, a former Abbott vice president, for two weeks.

The judge agreed Clavel had access to trade secrets regarding “diagnostic and sensitive projects involving COVID-19 testing products.” The order will prevent Clavel from beginning to work for Bio-Rad Laboratories, a life sciences manufacturer involved in drug discovery and manufacturing. Clavel’s last day at Abbott was Oct. 30. Clavel “failed to work out his employment parameters with a competitor in spite of Abbott’s long history of doing so,” Kendall wrote in the order.

The order also permits expedited discovery for Abbott to determine which information was allegedly stolen.

Abbott claims Clavel downloaded company materials onto at least five USB hard drives. It also alleges that he forwarded confidential information and market predictions to a personal email address. The emails reportedly included information about an Abbott COVID-19 test.

The order forces Clavel to surrender the USB drives within 24 hours and turn over sensitive emails within one week.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Clavel held the Abbott position for one year and seven months.


Filed Under: Drug Discovery
Tagged With: Abbot Laboratories, Bio-Rad, covid-19
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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