Security News > 2009 > June > Instead of Zen Dens, Starwood Builds an Espionage Case Against Hilton

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061204068.html By Michael S. Rosenwald Washington Post Staff Writer June 13, 2009 Earlier this year, Hilton Hotels shipped eight boxes to Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Companies don't typically send much mail to their competitors, and Starwood's general counsel discovered something odd in the boxes: thousands of Starwood documents and electronic files. Lawyers from Hilton, which is moving to Tysons Corner from Beverly Hills this summer, included a letter saying they found the material in the homes and offices of star employees the firm had recruited from Starwood. The material, according to the letter, had been reviewed and didn't seem all that sensitive. Hilton was returning it "in an abundance of caution." Starwood's attorneys did not agree. They hit Hilton with a 91-page lawsuit alleging "the clearest imaginable case of corporate espionage," saying that "the sheer volume of theft is extraordinary, and may be unprecedented." The files included Starwood's strategic development plans and materials for a boutique hotel using the words "zen den." Hilton allegedly drew from the material, apparently using a little wordplay, in developing a hip new boutique hotel called Denizen. "This complaint reads more like a novel," said Jeff Riffer, a Los Angeles attorney and former chair of the American Bar Association's trade secrets subcommittee. "It's pretty unusual that senior executives at one company are going to take a lot of documents and go to a competitor, where they appear to set up the same idea." [...] _____________________________________________ Visit the InfoSec News security bookstore! http://www.shopinfosecnews.org

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061204068.html