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TEKsystems awarded in trade secret case, appeal filed

February 11, 2009

TEKsystems announced Monday a U.S. District Court in California awarded it $450,000 in a case involving misappropriation of trade secrets against Modis Inc. TEKsystems said Modis used information from its proprietary database with knowledge that it came from TEKsystems. Modis, a division of MPS Group (NYSE: MPS), said the case is under appeal.

In addition to the $450,000, "TEKsystems was entitled to permanent injunctive relief to prevent actual and threatened misappropriation of TEKsystems' trade secrets by Modis," according to TEKsystems.

However, MPS said the court dismissed other claims by TEKsystems including interference of contractual rights, engaging in unfair competition, and that Modis had been unjustly enriched. The court ruled that TEKsystems was not damaged, but awarded it just over half of its attorneys fees, which is part of the appeal, according to MPS.

MPS said the case involved a former TEKsystems salesperson who worked for Modis for less than two months before being released.

According to court filings, the case involves a Los Angeles area TEKsystems salesperson, Cyrus Siminpour. Court documents say Siminpour copied information from a TEKsystems database between June 4 and 6, 2007, onto an external hard drive after he accepted an offer of employment from Modis, but before notifying TEKsystems of his resignation.