Security News > 2021 > August > Proofpoint wins $14m from ex-VP and French email security rival in IP theft court battle

Lemarié, the San Francisco jury found, then went on to share those trade secrets with his new employer, French email security firm Vade Secure.

Of 20 trade secrets Proofpoint said Lemarié and Vade had used unlawfully, the jury agreed that 15 had been misappropriated by Vade Secure in a "Wilful and malicious" way, according to the final verdict form [PDF].

According to the complaint, Vade's subsequent "New email security product was a dispositive factor in its ability to secure nearly $80 million USD in funding from its investor, General Catalyst."

In a statement made in April, just before the case went to trial, Proofpoint claimed Lemarié "Took and used Cloudmark's confidential and proprietary information and source code when he joined Vade Secure as Chief Technology Officer in 2017.".

Proofpoint bought Cloudmark, a message-filtering firm used by the FTC, among others, in 2017 for $110m, praising both its email security tech and its threat intelligence products.

"Vade Secure told The Reg:"While we were hopeful we would be successful on all claims, we are pleased that the jury saw that Proofpoint and Cloudmark's claims were an overreach as evidenced by their decision on damages.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/08/24/proofpoint_wins_14m_vade/