Intellectual Property News and Reports

Hallmark Cards, Inc. (Hallmark), hired Monitor Company Group, L.P. (Monitor), to compile research on the greeting cards market. Monitor transmitted confidential market research it had prepared for Hallmark to a private equity firm called Monitor Clipper Partners, LLC (Clipper), the defendant in this litigation. Clipper used this information to purchase and subsequently manage a competitor of Hallmark’s called Recycled Paper Greetings, Inc. (RPG). Hallmark sued Monitor for breaching its contractual obligations and Clipper for misappropriating Hallmark’s trade secrets in violation of the Missouri Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 417.450 et seq. (MUTSA). Hallmark settled with Monitor for $16.6 million; its case against Clipper proceeded to trial, where a jury awarded Hallmark $21.3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. After the verdict, Clipper moved for judgment as a matter of law and alternatively to alter or amend the judgment, asserting (1) that the evidence did not support the verdict, (2) that the jury award gave Hallmark a double recovery because Hallmark had already settled with Monitor for the same injury, and (3) that the assessment of punitive damages against Clipper violated Missouri law and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. The district court denied these motions, and we affirm.

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