January 24, 2025
Publication: Law, disrupted
Kobre & Kim’s Michael Ng joined John B. Quinn on his Law, disrupted podcast to discuss a recent US $604.9 million jury verdict Kobre & Kim obtained on behalf of Propel Fuels in its trade secrets misappropriation case against Phillips 66.
Mr. Ng explains the strategic decisions he made that led to the verdict, including choosing to proceed in state court rather than federal court, providing a detailed pretrial trade secrets disclosure, selecting jurors with technical expertise, and proactively calling a key defense witness during Propel’s case-in-chief. “We were able to show that the project that Propel and Phillips 66 had worked on for nearly a year was identical to what Phillips 66 had actually deployed,” he shares.
Mr. Ng and Mr. Quinn also discuss Propel’s damages case, which is based on an unjust enrichment theory that emphasized the ten-year head start on entering the renewable fuels market Phillips 66 gained by leveraging Propel’s trade secrets.
Mr. Ng and Mr. Quinn go on to explore broader trends in trade secrets litigation, including the growing importance of trade secret law in emerging technologies like AI and machine learning, where trade secrets often offer more protection than patents.