Both Sides in MMD-Suntsu Spat Praise Judge’s Order
Foundstone Finds Hole in Popular Software; T-Mobile Quietly Opens Irvine Office
TECHNOLOGY
by Andrew Simons
The lawsuit between Santa Ana’s MMD Components Inc. and Newport Beach’s Suntsu Frequency Control Inc. is heating up.
Both companies are applauding an injunction recently issued by Orange County Superior Court Judge Gerald Johnston.
The injunction prevents Suntsu founders Jason Gann and Casey Conlin from using contact or other information of MMD Components’ customers when making sales calls.
Gann and Conlin are former MMD salesmen who jumped ship to start Suntsu. MMD alleged that Suntsu is using trade secrets that were taken when Gann and Conlin left the company.
Both MMD and Suntsu resell oscillators,devices used inside telecommunications and global positioning devices. MMD has been in business since 1994.
“It took me more than eight years and $1.5 million to research and develop the customer and vendor lists that are the lifeblood of my company,” said Rodney Mills, president of MMD Components in a statement.
“The court’s ruling immediately stops the defendants from further capitalizing on plaintiff’s trade secrets until this case is resolved,” said William E. Levin, MMD’s attorney, in a statement. “It levels the playing field so that any competition between the parties is fair, especially given that my client trained the defendants and taught them everything they know about the frequency control business.”
So why is Suntsu happy about the injunction?
Suntsu believes that the judge’s ruling has left some maneuvering for Gann and Conlan’s Suntsu.
MMD attorneys had asked that the judge issue an injunction against Suntsu’s salesmen from contacting entire companies on MMD’s customer list, but Judge Johnston limited the injunction to MMD’s specific contacts inside a company, said an attorney for Suntsu.
“Mr. Gann and Mr. Conlan are very pleased with the judge’s decision to reject the portion of MMD Components’ request for an injunction preventing Suntsu from doing business with certain customers or suppliers, including those that might also do business with MMD Components,” said Michael Stewart, Suntsu’s attorney. “That issue, which was the focal point of MMD’s request, was ruled on in Suntsu’s favor.”
Here’s the lawsuit background:
MMD spent a lot of money to create a “confidential” customer and vendor list. The list is so valuable that MMD credits it with the company’s success at landing several Fortune 500 accounts. The information in the database is password protected,only workers who need database information to perform their jobs can access it.
“Prior to joining MMD Components Inc., neither defendant had any experience in the electronics industry or in sales,” MMD said in an earlier statement. “They were given sales training and access to (MMD’s) trade secret information relating to customer contacts, orders, sales history, pricing for a particular customer, lead times for manufacture and delivery of orders, company profit margins, vendors and vendor pricing.”
MMD charges that Gann and Conlin set up Suntsu (named after ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu, author of “The Art of War”) while still working for MMD. Before they resigned, MMD officials say the two deleted, altered or failed to enter important customer data. MMD also says the two copied its customer and vendor data and specification sheets for its products and used the information to start their own business.
“That information allowed Suntsu to unfairly compete in job bids worth millions of dollars,” MMD alleged in an earlier release.
Both Conlin and Gann deny the allegations.
Finding Flaw
Mission Viejo-based Foundstone Inc. is getting edgier with its press releases.
The maker of software and services that help companies protect against hackers recently said it found a hole in a popular encryption software from Palo Alto-based PGP Corp.
“Previously thought to be an impractical attack because of the sophistication of PGP’s encryption, Foundstone believes this can actually be easily exploited,” the company said in a release.
Foundstone employs a staff of hackers that try to find holes in software so they can better develop their own products.
Hackers as a breed love to brag about their work,especially with popular software.
The company put out the press release despite a PGP patch that fixed the hole in the software.
Foundstone says it put out the press release as a public service. “We’re just trying to let them know it’s out there,” said spokesman Bryan Sherlock.
Hallo! Deutsche
T-Mobile International, the wireless unit of German telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom AG, recently opened a 50-person office in Irvine.
“We quietly opened the Irvine office a few months back,” said Jim Wendt, a T-Mobile account manager.
Popular in Europe, T-Mobile’s wireless services are just becoming known in the U.S. Deutsche Telekom acquired VoiceStream Wireless Corp. last year and made the name change to T-Mobile in California and Nevada in July.
T-Mobile has embarked on a multi-million dollar branding campaign in the U.S. with actress Catherine Zeta-Jones as spokesperson.
