Mastercard Claims Ex-Contractor Stole Secrets, Infringes Patent

Mastercard subsidiary Applied Predictive Technologies sued closely held MarketDial and its co-founder, who previously worked for a company that contracted work with APT, for stealing trade secrets and infringing a patent related to predictive software business for retailers.

John M. Stoddard worked at McKinsey & Co. and was bound by a confidentiality agreement when he surreptitiously co-founded MarketDial to compete with APT, according to a complaint filed June 28 in federal court in Wilmington, Del.

“Stoddard duped APT into providing its confidential information and trade secrets to benefit himself personally and his newly-formed company, MarketDial,” according to the complaint.

Mastercard ...