CHICAGO, May 6, 2024
/PRNewswire/ --A Chicago federal
court has cleared the way for trade secret misappropriation claims
to proceed against Marex Capital Markets Inc. in a lawsuit filed by
financial technology leader RVassets Ltd. of London, England.
Marex Capital Markets, along with employee Jason Margiotta and former employee David Hoffman, faces claims for misappropriating
trade secrets relating to RVassets' industry-leading technology for
algorithmic pricing and execution of listed options. The lawsuit
details how Marex was a customer of RVassets and misused its access
to the company's software platform to covertly create and launch a
competing software platform called OptionsLive.
Marex and the two employees responded to RVassets' claims with a
motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In an order issued on May 2, the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Illinois found that
the trade secret misappropriation claims could proceed.
The court found that RVassets properly pleaded claims under the
Illinois Trade Secrets Act (ITSA) and Defend Trade Secrets Act
(DTSA) by sufficiently alleging the existence of its trade secrets
and Marex's acts of misappropriation.
The court dismissed RVassets' remaining claims without
prejudice, finding they were either entirely or partially preempted
by the ITSA, which the court said provides the only available civil
remedy for misappropriation of confidential information under
Illinois law. Although RVassets'
deceptive trade practices claim was not fully preempted, the court
found that more information regarding the allegedly
deceptive statements Marex made to its customers was needed to
plead the claim.
"The court's ruling means we are one step closer to presenting
the facts of this case to a jury," says Jason Cassady of Caldwell Cassady & Curry,
counsel for RVassets. "RVassets has built its business around its
valuable trade secrets, and we are pleased that the court agreed
that its trade secret misappropriation claims should now move
forward."
RVassets was formed in 2014 by a group led by Founder and CEO
Thomas Fitch, a financial industry
veteran with prior banking and commercial trading roles for
Dresdner Bank, BNP Paribas, and JP Morgan. RVassets developed the
company's software platform using Mr. Fitch's proprietary
algorithms for pricing and executing listed options, such as U.S.
treasury options traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
RVassets software offering was the first commercially available
software to provide such functionality.
In addition to Mr. Cassady, RVassets is represented by Caldwell
Cassady & Curry's Brad Caldwell,
Austin Curry, Brian Johnston, Seth
Reich, and Bailey Blaies. The
case is RVassets Ltd. v. Marex Capital Markets Inc., et al.,
No.1:23-cv-14192.
Caldwell Cassady & Curry represents companies and
individuals in high-stakes civil litigation, including patent
infringement cases, trade secrets misappropriation claims,
fiduciary duty cases, class actions, and disputes involving company
founders. The firm has tried and won some of the nation's top
verdicts against the largest companies in the world. Learn more
about the firm at www.caldwellcc.com.
View original
content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/federal-court-rules-for-financial-technology-leader-rvassets-ltd-on-trade-secret-misappropriation-claims-against-marex-capital-markets-302137148.html
SOURCE Caldwell Cassady & Curry