Civil Case (Tel Aviv) 4258-06-20 RAM GROUP GLOBAL, Pte. Ltd N’ B.G. Negev Technologies and Listings Ltd.

Judgment

A developer and inventor contracted with a university researcher and a university company to provide him with services that would improve the developments he was working on through the companies under his control.  It's time for the coronavirus.  It was all about developing inventions to deal with the pandemic, and to quickly identify carriers of the virus.

And now, the university researcher has published that he has been able to develop a device that will enable rapid identification as aforesaid.  The news was joyful and had potential, but the developer, the joymaker, claims that the researcher took advantage of access to the developments he was working on, stole his trade secrets, and used them as part of the pretentious invention.

Is that true?

This must be decided in the framework of this action.  To this end, the plaintiffs, who are under the control of the developer, must establish the existence of the elements of theft of the trade secrets they claim.  The evidentiary work is complex.  It requires an analysis of the findings of the court-appointed expert opinion; It requires an insistence on the relationship between trade secret law and patent law; It involves the interpretation of the defenses that the law grants to those who are alleged to have stolen these secrets; and even in the examination of the assignment of rights carried out by the plaintiffs among themselves.

If successful, theplaintiffs petition for a declaration of their ownership ofthe intellectual property in the development they have developed, and for the issuance of a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from making any use of it.

Background

1. Company RAM GROUP HOLDINGS PTE. LTD.  (Hereinafter: Ram Holdings), which was plaintiff No.  1 in the original statement of claim (before it was amended on June 13, 2022), is a foreign company engaged in the management, production, research and development of sensors on digital or nanoelectronic platforMs. Plaintiff 2 (RAM GROUP DE GMBH) is a foreign company engaged in the technological development of sensors, and in particular in the development, design and manufacture of a rapid diagnostic platform for the coronavirus.  Plaintiff 3 (EPITRONIC HOLDINGS PTE.  LTD.) is a consulting company that is part of the production, research and development system of Eshkol Holding Company.
2. Mr. Eyal Ram (hereinafter: Mr. Ram) is the founder of these three companies, and is behind their various developments..
3. B.G. Negev Technologies and Applications in a Tax Appeal (Defendant 1, hereinafter: Negev Company) is an Israeli company owned by Ben-Gurion University (defendant 3, hereinafter: University or Ben-Gurion University of the Negev).  Prof.  Gabriel Seroussi, Defendant 2 (Hereinafter: Prof.  Seroussi), He is a researcher and lecturer in the Department of Electro-Optical Engineering and the Institute of Nanotechnology at the university (all three of which will be referred to together as defendants).
4. On December 5, 2016, a long-term agreement was signed for the provision of research and development services between Ram Holdings and the Negev Company. The latter undertook to provide for the first time optimization services for various devices in the field of spectroscopy sensors, which were developed and manufactured by the plaintiffs.  Every year, Ram Holdings had to update the research project QServices will be provided for him.
5. In March 2020, the research project was defined as:Architecture and Design of THZ Corona Viruses Fast Detection Device". According to the plaintiffs, these are fast and unique diagnostic devices developed by them, the recliners About Technology THZ Resonance Nano Antennas.  As a motherVer, The Negev company should have provided the consulting and optimization services in relation to the aforementioned devices.

In clause 7 of the long-term agreement, the parties undertook to maintain absolute confidentiality with respect to any information received in the frameworkof.  Article 7.1 states that "each party undertakes to keep in strict confidence all information received in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement".  However, it was determined later in the section that it will not apply, inter alia, in relation to an independent opening by the party receiving the information.

6. According to the plaintiffs' position, Mr. Ram came up with a revolutionary idea to use their unique patented sensor technology, and to create a new system for rapid detection of the coronavirus. The system was supposed to detect the virus in just 60 seconds and with 99% accuracy.  This is an innovative and efficient invention that overcomes significant problems with existing methods.

They filed a patent application for the invention in the United States, Europe, Asia and Israel.  These are in fact two patents, since the plaintiffs succeeded in designing and manufacturing the invention both in the form of a breathing device (hereinafter: the breathing apparatus), or a breathing device, and in the form of a swab.

7. The main point of the lawsuit at hand is the respirator. Inside it is a microelectronic chip (hereinafter: The Chip or The Sensor), that the subject exhales Towards him.  Its advantage is expressed in the fact that within a short time - and even in field conditions - a result is obtained that identifies whether the patient is infected with the coronavirus or not.  Inside the chip there are many tiny antennas - micro-antennas (hereinafter: Antennas) that are arranged in a certain array, and allow the virus to be quickly identified.
8. Mr. Ram contacted Prof. Seroussi on March 14, 2020, in order to polish and operate the system, and to optimize its functioning.  According to the plaintiffs, at that stage they had drawings and drawings of the invention, and presentations describing the product's work process.  Mr. Ram sent Prof.  Seroussi a number of articles explaining some of the principles on which the sensors operate.  The application to the defendants was made only after the plaintiffs had completed the stage of research, development, design and production of the invention.
9. Prof. Seroussi sent Mr. Ram a price quote for treatment in accordance with the agreement in the amount of US$260,000.  Against this background, the head of the plaintiffs' development team sent an article, and preliminary invention drawings to the defendants.  Mr. Ram also provided the defendants with access to the company's servers, with their own password and username, so that they would have access to all the information they needed for the optimization services.
10. On May 19, 2020, the engagement between the parties was terminated (hereinafter: Termination date).
11. According to the plaintiffs, the defendants, who received drawings and drawings of the invention, advertised themselves as its developers, and transferred knowledge and data to the Director of Research, Weapons Development and Electronic Infrastructure (Mafat) and to the Ministry of Defense. In doing so, they violated their duty of confidentiality, stole their trade secrets, and boasted in the world media that they were the inventors of an invention that, in fact, was born with theft.  The defendants even filed their own patent applications based on the said theft.

This is a breach of the duty of confidentiality and the commission of the tort of theft of a trade secret, as defined in section 6 of the Commercial Torts Law, 5759-1999 (hereinafter: the Law or the Commercial Torts Law).