Federal Court Rules for Financial Technology Leader RVassets Ltd. on Trade Secret Misappropriation Claims Against Marex Capital Markets

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May 06, 2024, 15:14 ET

CHICAGO, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --A Chicago federal court has cleared the way for trade secret misappropriation claims to proceed against Marex Capital Markets Inc. in a lawsuit filed by financial technology leader RVassets Ltd. of London, England.

Marex Capital Markets, along with employee Jason Margiotta and former employee David Hoffman, faces claims for misappropriating trade secrets relating to RVassets' industry-leading technology for algorithmic pricing and execution of listed options. The lawsuit details how Marex was a customer of RVassets and misused its access to the company's software platform to covertly create and launch a competing software platform called OptionsLive.

Marex and the two employees responded to RVassets' claims with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In an order issued on May 2, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois found that the trade secret misappropriation claims could proceed.

The court found that RVassets properly pleaded claims under the Illinois Trade Secrets Act (ITSA) and Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) by sufficiently alleging the existence of its trade secrets and Marex's acts of misappropriation.

The court dismissed RVassets' remaining claims without prejudice, finding they were either entirely or partially preempted by the ITSA, which the court said provides the only available civil remedy for misappropriation of confidential information under Illinois law. Although RVassets' deceptive trade practices claim was not fully preempted, the court found that more information regarding the allegedly deceptive statements Marex made to its customers was needed to plead the claim.

"The court's ruling means we are one step closer to presenting the facts of this case to a jury," says Jason Cassady of Caldwell Cassady & Curry, counsel for RVassets. "RVassets has built its business around its valuable trade secrets, and we are pleased that the court agreed that its trade secret misappropriation claims should now move forward."

RVassets was formed in 2014 by a group led by Founder and CEO Thomas Fitch, a financial industry veteran with prior banking and commercial trading roles for Dresdner Bank, BNP Paribas, and JP Morgan. RVassets developed the company's software platform using Mr. Fitch's proprietary algorithms for pricing and executing listed options, such as U.S. treasury options traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. RVassets software offering was the first commercially available software to provide such functionality.

In addition to Mr. Cassady, RVassets is represented by Caldwell Cassady & Curry's Brad Caldwell, Austin Curry, Brian Johnston, Seth Reich, and Bailey Blaies. The case is RVassets Ltd. v. Marex Capital Markets Inc., et al., No.1:23-cv-14192.

Caldwell Cassady & Curry represents companies and individuals in high-stakes civil litigation, including patent infringement cases, trade secrets misappropriation claims, fiduciary duty cases, class actions, and disputes involving company founders. The firm has tried and won some of the nation's top verdicts against the largest companies in the world. Learn more about the firm at www.caldwellcc.com.

SOURCE Caldwell Cassady & Curry