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 PLEASANTON, Calif. , 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 @veevasystems on Twitter: twitter.com/veevasystems
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.
Contact:
Maria Scurry
Veeva Systems Inc.
781-366-7617
pr@veeva.com
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SOURCE Veeva Systems