Trade Secrets Blog: The Microsoft Mole

From Trade Secrets Blog, one of the stranger trade secrets stories, Trade Secrets and the Mole at Microsoft:

"From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an almost bizarre story concerning the CEO of a software company, Ancora Technologies, who went to work for Microsoft claiming that Ancora was no longer in business. Not only was that apparently not true, but his reason for joining Microsoft was to obtain evidence for a patent suit brought by Ancora against three Microsoft customers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba America Information Systems. Microsoft claims he downloaded secret information unrelated to his work for Microsoft."

Microsoft suit alleges ex-worker stole trade secrets : News : Software - ZDNet Asia:

According to the lawsuit, filed Jan. 22 in King County Superior Court, Miki Mullor stated on his application that he no longer worked at Ancora Technologies because it had gone out of business. However, Sammamish, Wash.-based Ancora was still in existence and he was the chief executive, the lawsuit alleges. (The Ancora site was inaccessible on Friday.)
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"Mullor told ZDNet Asia's sister site CNET News last week that he had been advised by an attorney not to comment on the lawsuit, but then later e-mailed a statement. Mullor said he informed Microsoft about his patent in his resume and employment agreement and that Ancora had ceased business operation before he applied to Microsoft.

Mullor also said he applied for his patent in 1998, it was issued in 2002 and in 2003 he approached Microsoft and discussed the 'benefits Microsoft could realize by using it', but Microsoft wasn't interested. Then, while he was working at the company and unbeknownst to him, Microsoft developed technology that is the subject of the patent lawsuit, he said.

'Microsoft's complaint against me in Washington is a shameful and a desperate attempt to put pressure on me and my family from continuing to pursue our legal rights in the federal court in Los Angeles,' he wrote."