PHILADELPHIA – Two defendants named by Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. in a July 7 Trade Secrets Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act lawsuit have asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to dismiss the cases against them.
Defendant Apotex Inc. sought dismissal of the lawsuit on Aug. 31 and Barinder Sandhu filed a motion to dismiss complaint on Oct. 17.
The other defendants named in the lawsuit include Jeremy Desai and Apotex Corp.
According to a July 27 story in the Pennsylvania Record, Teva’s complaint alleged that “Sandhu was a senior director of regulatory affairs with it and was in a relationship with Desai, a senior executive with defendants Apotex. It alleges Sandhu shared trade secrets with Desai.”
In her motion to dismiss the Teva claims against her, Sandhu said “the complaint spans 208 paragraphs but is pled largely ‘on information and belief.’ Its conclusory allegations fall far short of the ‘plausibility’ standard that the Supreme Court and Third Circuit impose.”
“Teva’s failure to plead facts plausibly entitling it to relief dooms each of its claims,” Sandhu’s motion said.
In addition, Sandhu said Teva’s allegation that she violated the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) is not valid because the company “has pled no specific act of misappropriation that occurred on or after the effective date of the statute,” and that counts of the lawsuit alleging that she violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and improperly obtained trade secrets “fail because Teva not only admits, but alleges, that Ms. Sandhu quite properly accessed Teva information while working at Teva.”
Apotex’s dismissal request echoes Sandhu’s argument regarding the timing of the DTSA violation count.
Apotex also said “Teva does not provide sufficient facts concerning the trade secrets at issue,” including failing to detail which trade secrets were allegedly misappropriated “and to what extent and how Apotex is using any of Teva’s trade secrets.”
According to the July 7 article, Teva is seeking a trial by jury, the recovery of trade secrets and other confidential information, as well as monetary damages, an injunction and reimbursement of court costs.