The lawsuit that accused translation services company Lionbridge Technologies Inc. of allegedly stealing trade secrets from rival TransPerfect Global Inc. has been dismissed.
In 2019, Phil Shawe, the co-founder and CEO of TransPerfect, filed a lawsuit against Lionbridge and its parent company, H.I.G. Capital, a Miami-based private equity firm, accusing the companies of breaching a confidentiality agreement and improperly using accessed information about TransPerfect’s operations to compete unfairly with it. Shawe sought more than $100 million in damages from H.I.G. and Lionbridge.
On Jan. 21, Lionbridge’s request to dismiss the lawsuit was granted by Judge Denise Cote, stating there was insufficient evidence to support TransPerfect’s claims. She also said TransPerfect also failed to show that the company has been damaged by any of the alleged misconduct.
The lawsuit stemmed from a 2016 auction that pitted Shawe against 20 bidders seeking to buy TransPerfect. In November 2017, the court-appointed custodian decided that Shawe made the best offer and awarded him the company.
Afterwards, Shawe claimed that Lionbridge committed intellectual property fraud during that auction, and that auction manager Credit Suisse failed to protect TransPerfect’s information.
During the auction, bidders were allowed to download information about TransPerfect, such as its top clients lists, pricing information, commission schedules, employee files and sales strategies. Once the auction ended, the bidders were supposed to return all the information or demonstrate that the information was destroyed, however TransPerfect said Lionbridge failed to comply.
Shawe previously was embroiled in a lengthy lawsuit against TransPerfect co-founder and ex-fiancé Elizabeth Elting over the fate of the company. The two reached a settlement in 2018 when the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a lower-court decision that Shawe could buy out Elting.
TransPerfect is the largest provider of language services, with offices in more than 100 cities worldwide. The company said it provides services in more than 170 languages and has more than 5,000 clients.
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