Litigation

On Monday, May 9, a jury in Fairfax County, Virginia, awarded our client, Appian Corporation, $2.036 billion in damages from Pegasystems Inc. for trade secret misappropriation following a seven-week trial. The jury also found that Pegasystems violated the Virginia Computer Crimes Act and found Pegasystems’ misappropriation of Appian’s trade secrets to be willful and malicious. During the trial, Appian presented evidence that Pegasystems hired an employee of a government contractor, to provide Pegasystems with access to Appian’s software as a part of an effort to learn how to better compete against Appian. In a press release issued by Appian, its General Counsel Christopher Winters noted: “We are very grateful that the jury held Pegasystems accountable for its wrongful conduct. We put forward strong evidence that Appian trade secrets were misappropriated by Pegasystems. The award of substantial damages to Appian is entirely appropriate given the nature and extent of what Pegasystems did.”

Patterson Belknap’s team was led by Adeel A. Mangi, Muhammad U. Faridi, and Jeffrey S. Ginsberg.

To read Appian’s press release, click here.

To read additional press coverage in Bloomberg Law, please click here; Law360, please click here; in The National Law Journal, please click here; and in Reuters, please click here.