Major win for employee rights and the life sciences industry
as court ends Medidata's moves to stifle innovation and free flow
of talent
NEW YORK and BARCELONA, Spain, July
18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The
United States District Court for the Southern District of
New York has dismissed the trade
secret misappropriation lawsuit filed by Medidata, a Dassault
Systèmes company, against Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV). Midway
through the jury trial, the judge ended the proceedings and
rejected the suit, finding that Medidata was unable to substantiate
its claims against Veeva. The ruling is an important move in the
protection of employee and customer rights as the case represented
an attempt to limit competition and the free flow of talent with
unfounded trade secret claims.
The Honorable Jed Rakoff, federal district judge since 1996 and
adjunct professor at Columbia Law School and NYU Law School, noted in his July 15 ruling:
"…to the extent that
[Medidata's] case rests on allegations regarding specific trade
secrets that were misappropriated, they have failed to make their
case." He went on to state, "I think
a more general problem with [Medidata's] case is they seem to think
that just about anything in the world can be a trade secret. And
that, of course, would mean that you
could never hire away an employee from another company because
anything they said — one word out of their mouth —
would indirectly reveal something
they had learned at their prior employment…and both the statutes
here involved, and also legislative history make clear that
that was not the intent of the
legislators..."
Despite a lack of evidence to support a case, Medidata filed the
trade secret suit in 2017 against Veeva and five former Medidata
employees in an attempt to block Veeva from innovating in the
clinical data management market and intimidate Medidata employees
to prevent them from joining Veeva, the emerging leader.
Medidata had many opportunities to drop the baseless suit over
the past five years – including after the 2019 acquisition by
Dassault Systèmes – but chose not to, causing needless harm to
many. The case caused confusion to mutual customers, harmed
employees on both sides, and cost the two sides combined an
estimated $40 million.
"We are pleased the court dismissed Medidata's suit and stood up
for the rights of employees and customers in the face of an abuse
of the legal system, intimidation of employees, and an attempt to
limit companies' access to innovation," said Peter Gassner, Veeva CEO. "Baseless lawsuits
like Medidata's harm individuals, customers, and the industry
overall. I hope this ruling encourages others to focus their energy
on innovation and employee success rather than unnecessary and
harmful litigation."
Veeva has been a long-standing supporter of employee rights and
the movement to ban the use of non-compete agreements. Medidata's
abusive lawsuit further underscores the need for greater protection
of worker rights to freely change employers, which promotes fair
competition and economic growth.
Additional Information
To learn more about Veeva's
position on non-compete agreements, visit
veeva.com/noncompetes.
For more on Veeva's Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) status, visit
veeva.com/pbc.
Connect with Veeva on LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/veeva-systems
Follow @veeva_eu on Twitter: twitter.com/veeva_eu
About Veeva Systems
Veeva is the global leader in
cloud software for the life sciences industry. Committed to
innovation, product excellence, and customer success, Veeva serves
more than 1,000 customers, ranging from the world's largest
pharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs. As a Public Benefit
Corporation, Veeva is committed to balancing the interests of all
stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders, and the
industries it serves. For more information,
visit veeva.com/eu.
Contact:
Maria Scurry
Veeva Systems Inc.
781-366-7617
pr@veeva.com
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