Honda of South Carolina files lawsuit alleging trade secret violations

[Hondasxs]

"WPDE — Honda of South Carolina has filed a lawsuit alleging people, referred to as John Does 1 2 3 linked to HondaSxS.com, violated the Trade Secret Act concerning its Talon side-by-side .

The lawsuit says, "On November 27, 2018, Honda released to the public, for the first time, certain information about the Talons, including the model name and photos of the Talons. "

However, the lawsuit goes on to say, "Honda heavily restricts access to the areas where the Talons are manufactured and stored. The taking of photos is prohibited except under controlled circumstances with prior permission. Moreover, during time periods when new models, such as the Talons, are being worked on, Honda designates those time periods as 'blackout' dates, during which visitor access is not allowed. "

However, photos and confidential and proprietary design and specification information were posted to HondaSxS.com website in June 2018 that Honda had not released the name, specifications, or photos of the Talon to the public, according to the lawsuit.

It alleges the defendants used improper means to misappropriate and exploit Honda's trade secrets for themselves and for the benefit of others, and have been unjustly enriched through their misappropriation of Honda's trade secrets.

"Defendants have misappropriated Honda's trade secrets willfully and maliciously, thus entitling Honda to its attorneys' fees and punitive and exemplary damages. Defendants’ trade secret misappropriation has damaged Honda."

According to the lawsuit, "Honda has attempted to discover the true identity of Defendants through its own internal efforts, but it has been unsuccessful. Among other things, Honda reviewed security logs revealing access to the area where the unauthorized photos were taken."

Honda is seeking actual, compensatory, consequential and special damages in an amount to be determined at trial."



source - Honda of South Carolina files lawsuit alleging trade secret violations

 

[JTW]

I think I know that Doe guy!

 

[nbomar]

Are you tied to this lawsuit?


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[Cuoutdoors]

"According to the lawsuit, "Honda has attempted to discover the true identity of Defendants through its own internal efforts, but it has been unsuccessful."

Time to smile and laugh. They're going no where.

 

[Neohio]

However, photos and confidential and proprietary design and specification information were posted two websites in June 2018 that Honda had not released the name, specifications, or photos of the Talon to the public, according to the lawsuit.
source - Honda of South Carolina files lawsuit alleging trade secret violations

Which websites were responsible for the leak?

 

[Cuoutdoors]

Which websites were responsible for the leak?

You get 2 guesses and the first one doesn't count....

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[Neohio]

You get 2 guesses and the first one doesn't count....

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I believe this site is one, who is the other?

 

[Dragon21]

I believe this site is one, who is the other?

Maybe Honda Pro Kevins?

I would think if anything it Helped Honda... gave people who were looking to upgrage their machine the insight that something new was coming... so if they were honda fans they could wait to see instead of buying something else

 

[CumminsPusher]

I believe this site is one, who is the other?

Haven’t went looking for it but the wife says there was a new Talon site that popped up same time as leak. Maybe

 

[Neohio]

Maybe Honda Pro Kevins?

I would think if anything it Helped Honda... gave people who were looking to upgrage their machine the insight that something new was coming... so if they were honda fans they could wait to see instead of buying something else

He gave credit to this site as his source.

Haven’t went looking for it but the wife says there was a new Talon site that popped up same time as leak. Maybe

I haven't looked too hard either.

 

[sharp]

This site has nothing to worry about.

 

[Neohio]

This site has nothing to worry about.View attachment 105299

I bet they are digging for the identity of the user that posted the images, and the source of images after that.
Ultimately, it is up to @Hondasxs whether he wants to lawyer up or provide the information as requested.
There is other Honda stuff being shared here on a regular basis they could go after if they want to.

 

[sharp]

I bet they are digging for the identity of the user that posted the images, and the source of images after that.
Ultimately, it is up to @Hondasxs whether he wants to lawyer up or provide the information as requested.
There is other Honda stuffy being shared here on a regular basis they could go after if they want to.

They are most likley looking for clues on this site to find out what employee leaked the pictures, that is whats more important to them. What took them so long to put this out? The pics have been out for a while. @Hondasxs has nothing to worry about, its just a sick feeling thinking that you might be involved in a lawsuit (not likley). Its just part of growing pains as this site gets more popular.

 

[Plumber32]

Got it from Facebook. Let them go after Zuckerberg!

 

[JACKAL]

Got it from Facebook. Let them go after Zuckerberg!

Actually when the Talon photos, and website got outed a day early, that's exactly what happened. Did a simple Google image search didn't show anything new, did same thing on Facebook and the images of the red 1000x & 1000R together showed up, checked the metadata and took you to the website that wasn't locked down. But the lawsuit seems to be about the mid June photos that got posted here first, along with speculation of certain specifications that were too close for comfort. Thing is most of that information was gleaned from reading all the patents that were publicly available and compared to what else was being currently produced by Honda and competitors. How many sport 64" wide sxs are there? That's like guessing it has 4 tires, pretty common sense stuff.

 

[ohanacreek]

Honda probably has lawyers that wear $10,000 suits, if they are paying them there was an effect on a bottom line large enough to justify paying them. I bet some lucky security consultants got a nice payday adding additional security to the location in question.

When you sign an NDA with a large corporation or government entity it’s in your best interest to not violate it. Most government NDAs I sign start at a $10,000 minimum for me and $100,000 for my company, plus court costs damages and jail time, I’d have a real hard time paying that $10k minimum after I was fired and sitting in a federal jail cell.

Hondasxs didn’t sign the NDA but a Corporation the size of Honda could lose a lawsuit and still destroy an individual or small business.

 

[Kilo427]

So ole Honda is mad cause some one took some selfies in a restricted area because they obviously have s*** security. So they are gonna sue other people because of it. The leaks caused more hype than the terrible unveiling of the suv minivan that took all the time of the talon.

Guess they didn’t need security to keep people from taking pics of s***ty suvs, step it up on your own playing field and stop pointing fingers when it’s in your own house.

 

[nbomar]

Honda probably has lawyers that wear $10,000 suits, if they are paying them there was an effect on a bottom line large enough to justify paying them. I bet some lucky security consultants got a nice payday adding additional security to the location in question.

When you sign an NDA with a large corporation or government entity it’s in your best interest to not violate it. Most government NDAs I sign start at a $10,000 minimum for me and $100,000 for my company, plus court costs damages and jail time, I’d have a real hard time paying that $10k minimum after I was fired and sitting in a federal jail cell.

Hondasxs didn’t sign the NDA but a Corporation the size of Honda could lose a lawsuit and still destroy an individual or small business.

The bottom paragraph is spot on. They can lose and completely destroy you.


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[ohanacreek]

So ole Honda is mad cause some one took some selfies in a restricted area because they obviously have s*** security. So they are gonna sue other people because of it. The leaks caused more hype than the terrible unveiling of the suv minivan that took all the time of the talon.

Guess they didn’t need security to keep people from taking pics of s***ty suvs, step it up on your own playing field and stop pointing fingers when it’s in your own house.

I bet they are mad because the competition found out juicy details 6months ahead of when Honda planned on them finding out publicly. Giving the competition 6months additional time to adapt their product and marketing. I am sure Hondas lawyers and accountants are figuring the theoretical numbers for lost sales based on that into the lawsuit. They obviously had a lot of people sign NDAs to be able to have very detailed information to make accessories and write up articles. Those people weren't stupid and didn't violate them.

I am not picking sides, just trying to be a realist, I've seen what the company I work for legally does and has done to protect their product and customer base, from dishonorable or unethical attacks. I am really proud than in 8 years I haven't even heard whispers of them doing something sketchy, illegal, or unethical and that if they found out an employee did something like that they came forward and revealed what the ex-employee did and the company paid the fines before it was caught and revealed after they hid it.

I've seen what lawyers for other corporations much smaller than the one I work for have done to small businesses out of spite even if they couldn't make an NDA lawsuit stick. I really don't like lawyers (unless they are defending me from other lawyers) I don't always agree with the law or the fact that a company can lose more than a small business is worth to kill that small business. Its legal though so if you sign an NDA its always best to not start a fight with someone who can lose and still win.

Yes the Minivan was absolute s***, but the west coast seems to be the focus of Honda even with the Talon, so us east coast guys may have to go elsewhere to get what we want. That may end up even being a competitors sport sxs since we don't seem to be their target audience. The Talon seems to be aimed at desert use not use in the woods, to me it seems like the X was an afterthought and the R was the main design. Realistically who wants to pay only $1000 less and get 6" less suspension travel which will be a benefit in rocky terrain as much as desert. (Edit: yes could say the R was “Only $1000 more for 6” more travel” but if you’re not the target coast then it appears the other way around ) If they had a youth sxs I'd be looking at it instead of a RZR170 for mine.

I'm a Honda fanboy but lets be real.

 

[Montecresto]

View attachment 105272

"WPDE — Honda of South Carolina has filed a lawsuit alleging three people, referred to as John Does 1 2 and 3, violated the Trade Secret Act concerning its Talon side-by-side .

The lawsuit says, "On November 27, 2018, Honda released to the public, for the first time, certain information about the Talons, including the model name and photos of the Talons. "

However, the lawsuit goes on to say, "Honda heavily restricts access to the areas where the Talons are manufactured and stored. The taking of photos is prohibited except under controlled circumstances with prior permission. Moreover, during time periods when new models, such as the Talons, are being worked on, Honda designates those time periods as 'blackout' dates, during which visitor access is not allowed. "

However, photos and confidential and proprietary design and specification information were posted two websites in June 2018 that Honda had not released the name, specifications, or photos of the Talon to the public, according to the lawsuit.

It alleges the defendants used improper means to misappropriate and exploit Honda's trade secrets for themselves and for the benefit of others, and have been unjustly enriched through their misappropriation of Honda's trade secrets.

"Defendants have misappropriated Honda's trade secrets willfully and maliciously, thus entitling Honda to its attorneys' fees and punitive and exemplary damages. Defendants’ trade secret misappropriation has damaged Honda."

According to the lawsuit, "Honda has attempted to discover the true identity of Defendants through its own internal efforts, but it has been unsuccessful. Among other things, Honda reviewed security logs revealing access to the area where the unauthorized photos were taken."

Honda is seeking actual, compensatory, consequential and special damages in an amount to be determined at trial."



source - Honda of South Carolina files lawsuit alleging trade secret violations

Are the IP address of any Hondasxs forum members being subpoenaed?