August 13, 2024 – Prysmian reports it has won its trade secrets case against competitor Sterlite Technologies Inc. and Stephen S., a former executive, and was awarded $96,500,000 in damages.

Following a three-week jury trial in U.S. District Court in Columbia, South Carolina, the jury found that Sterlite was unjustly enriched by taking Prysmian’s trade secrets.

Additionally, the jury found that Stephen S. had been unjustly enriched by misappropriating Prysmian’s trade secrets and awarded $200,000 against him, personally.

Stephen S. ran Prysmian’s optical fiber cable business in North America. He departed Prysmian for Sterlite in August 2020.

Prysmian filed its lawsuit in June 2021, accusing its former executive of misappropriating trade secrets and taking them to his new employer.

At trial, Prysmian proved that Sterlite had taken thousands of pages of confidential information and trade secrets, including information about customers, new products, and manufacturing plans.

Much of this information was also found in the possession of executives at Sterlite’s global headquarters in Pune, India, says Prysmian.

“This case came down to the basic principle of right versus wrong, and we are pleased that the jury came to this decision,” said Andrea Pirondini, Prysmian’s North America CEO.