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balamidas

10/18/19 10:32 AM

#30027 RE: Urbanlegend #30026

On December 5, 2014, the Company, along with renowned architect Eli Attia, filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, against Google, its co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Google’s spinoff company Flux Factory, and senior executives of Flux. Plaintiffs’ allege misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract and other contract-related claims, breach of confidence, slander of title, violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law (California Business and Professionals Code §§ 17200 et seq.), and fraud, and also a claim for declaratory relief. The lawsuit contends that Google and the other Defendants stole Mr. Attia’s trade secrets, proprietary information, and know-how regarding a revolutionary architecture design and building process that he alone had invented, known as Engineered Architecture. Defendants are alleged to have engaged Mr. Attia in 2010 and 2011 to translate his architectural technology into software for a proof of concept, with the goal of determining at that point whether to continue with full-scale development with Mr. Attia. Instead, the lawsuit claims that once Mr. Attia had disclosed the trade secrets and proprietary information Defendants needed to bring the technology to market, they severed ties with Mr. Attia, and continued to use his technology without a license and without compensation, in order to bring the technology to market themselves. Plaintiffs seek a permanent injunction against Google, damages (including punitive damages), and restitution. As exclusive agent to Eli Attia to enforce all rights with respect to the subject technology, the Company has retained Buether Joe & Carpenter LLC to represent the Company in the suit, on a contingency fee basis. The case will be vigorously prosecuted, and the Company believes it has a good likelihood of success. Defendants have filed multiple demurrers to the complaint, and the Court has issued orders allowing the case to proceed. Defendants filed another demurrer on March 17, 2016, which was denied by the Court on August 12, 2016. On October 4, 2017, the Court granted Mr. Attia leave to amend the complaint to add causes of action against defendants for civil violations of the federal Rackateer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly known as RICO). Subsequently, on October 23, 2017, the defendants removed the lawsuit from California state court to the federal district court in the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. The parties continue to file motions and are expected to begin the discovery phase of the litigation.

and the rest you know where we are now