Heraeus Medical GMBH v. Esschem Inc
July 01, 2019
The case before us involves another skirmish in a longrunning, cross-border court battle over the alleged theft of a trade secret: Heraeus Medical GmbH’s recipe for its bone cement. In this appeal, we consider whether Heraeus’ suit against Esschem, Inc.—a company that works as a chemical manufacturer for Heraeus’ main competitor—is barred by the statute of limitations under the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act. At summary judgment, the District Court held that all of Heraeus’ claims, including those for Esschem’s alleged continuing misappropriation during the three-year limitations period, are time-barred and entered judgment for Esschem. We agree that alleged misappropriations that occurred more than three years before Heraeus filed suit are time-barred, but because we hold that Pennsylvania applies the rule of separate accrual to continuing trade secret misappropriations, Heraeus may sue for misappropriations that occurred within the three-year period before filing. We thus will reverse in part and affirm in part the District Court’s grant of summary judgment.
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