TRADE SECRET CASE ENDS : CHARGES DROPPED IN SOFTWARE DISPUTE.Byline: Lawrence M. Fisher The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times A rare criminal indictment that grew out of a dispute over trade secrets between two computer software companies in Silicon Valley was quietly dropped this week. Symantec Corp. said Friday that the district attorney in Santa Cruz County Santa Cruz County is the name of two counties in the United States:
relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc accusations that they had disclosed trade secrets of Borland International Inc. The two men were indicted INDICTED, practice. When a man is accused by a bill of indictment preferred by a grand jury, he is said to be indicted. in March 1993, six months after Wang left a senior position at Borland to join Symantec. Borland had filed a civil suit at the time of Wang's departure and had notified the district attorney after an inspection of Wang's computer revealed electronic mail sent to Eubanks that disclosed, Borland said, trade secrets. The companies compete in the market for software tools like programming languages. At the time, Eubanks, who is now 49, was charged with 11 counts of receipt of stolen property and conspiracy. Wang, now 38, was charged with 21 counts of conspiracy and of violating trade-secret laws. But in moving to dismiss the indictments, the district attorney argued that the case had grown old, witnesses had shifted companies and legal standards had changed. ``The cases have become stale stale horseman's term for the act of urination by a horse. in that the value of the trade secrets in the interval between the filing and now has diminished to the point of insignificance in·sig·nif·i·cance n. The quality or state of being insignificant. Noun 1. insignificance - the quality of having little or no significance unimportance - the quality of not being important or worthy of note ,'' James A. Jackson, an assistant district attorney, wrote in his motion to dismiss. ``The employees who would have been witnesses in the action have flip-flopped insofar in·so·far adv. To such an extent. Adv. 1. insofar - to the degree or extent that; "insofar as it can be ascertained, the horse lung is comparable to that of man"; "so far as it is reasonably practical he should practice as their employment is concerned, with Borland and Symantec employees taking corresponding roles in the opposition company,'' he wrote. ``The problem is the computer industry is incestuous in·ces·tu·ous adj. 1. Of, involving, or suggestive of incest. 2. Having committed incest. , with people working in one place today and in another tomorrow,'' Jackson said in a telephone interview, noting that a substantial number of former Borland employees now worked for Symantec. ``Technology that is valuable today is obsolete tomorrow,'' he said, adding that there was always a question in the case whether the trade-secret laws, which cover scientific and technical material, applied to the marketing information Wang was said to have shared with Symantec. Borland officials had no comment on the case, which they said was an issue between the courts and Symantec, but noted that the civil action was still pending. Eubanks was not available for comment, and Wang has left Symantec and could not be reached. ``Symantec believes that the dismissal was appropriate and is pleased that this matter has been put to rest,'' the company said in a statement. |
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