Caterpillar Inc was found guilty of stealing trade secrets from a supplier by a federal court jury and will pay a hefty amount for damages.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the eight-week long trial in Chicago finally reached a verdict Friday, where the US District Court jury required Caterpillar to pay its supplier, Miller UK Ltd., $74 million in damages. A Caterpillar spokeswoman said that the company is disappointed with the verdict.
Construction reported Miller accused Caterpillar of using its trade secrets to build its own coupler used for its excavator buckets. The Cramlington, England,-based supplier grew rapidly after it released its Bug-brand coupler in the 1990s.
Miller's coupler lets excavator operators replace the attachments on its bucket while conveniently staying in their cabs. Caterpillar quickly became one of the company's biggest customers. Later on, caterpillar insisted on gaining information about the design of the products. The giant construction firm denied allegations from Miller that it is stealing trade secrets from them. Now Caterpillar is considering its next step in this legal proceeding, according to the company's spokeswoman.
Nasdaq wrote that Miller representative Kirkland & Ellis partner Reed Oslan asked Caterpillar engineer Troy Robi if he took the design information from Miller and used it to design his work, and Mr. Robi answered yes, he did.
According to Miller, as it expanded its production capability in England, the company went into a joint-venture plant with a company in China expecting that Caterpillar would continue to buy its couplers. However, in 2008, the British company was in dismay when Caterpillar informed it that it was building its own couplers and would stop buying supplies from the British company.
This may have triggered Miller's decision to sue Caterpillar, since this could easily lead to loss of massive income. The lawsuit was filed five years ago.
