CA, Inc. announced that it has filed an amended complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Rocket Software, Inc. alleging Rocket stole intellectual property associated with a number of CA’s key database management software products.
The amended complaint includes causes of action for copyright Infringement, Misappropriation of a Trade Secret, Unfair Competition, and Unjust Enrichment/Restitution. Rocket is located in Newton, Mass.
According to the amended complaint, Rocket “knowingly and intentionally stole from CA the source code and development environment” and used the intellectual property to create many, if not all, of Rocket’s software tools for the IBM DB2 relational database management system. The amended complaint alleges that Rocket obtained the source code and development environment by hiring programmers and software developers formerly employed by CA or PLATINUM technology International, Inc., which CA acquired in 1999. These employees misappropriated CA’s intellectual property and converted this property to Rocket’s use, with the knowledge and consent of Rocket, according to the amended complaint.
“The facts here demonstrate blatant misappropriation by Rocket of CA’s intellectual property,” said Gary Brown, CA’s director of litigation. “We believe that Rocket’s management not only condoned the conduct of its employees, but also made false and misleading statements to cover up this conduct. We will take all appropriate measures to protect our intellectual property.”
According to CA, Rocket continues to distribute DB2 tools which infringe CA’s copyrights and are a misappropriation of CA’s trade secrets in violation of federal and state law. In this manner, Rocket has defrauded CA of many millions of dollars. CA is a leader in DB2 software tools, a $1.7 billion market. According to the amended complaint, Rocket became a competitor in this market due in large part to its misappropriation of CA’s intellectual property.
In the amended complaint, CA seeks damages of at least $200 million for Rocket’s alleged theft and misappropriation of CA’s intellectual property, as well an injunction preventing Rocket from continuing to distribute its database management software products.
