Kaplan Professional Sues Dalton Education, LLC for Misappropriation of Its Trade Secrets & an Unlawful Scheme to Steal Its Cl...
June 03 2019 - 4:17PM
Business Wire
Kaplan Professional, part of Kaplan, Inc., a global education
provider, filed a lawsuit in federal court against a competitor,
Dalton Education, LLC, for misappropriating valuable trade secrets,
in support of an unlawful scheme to steal Kaplan Professional’s
clients in the financial planning sector.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Wisconsin in Madison, seeks immediate injunctive relief
in addition to unspecified compensatory and punitive damages from
Dalton Education and two individually named defendants.
The lawsuit alleges a scheme whereby Dalton Education recruited
sales employees from Kaplan Professional over a period of time with
the express intent of using Kaplan Professional’s confidential and
proprietary information to help grow its own business, including,
among other things, a senior-level Dalton manager intentionally
soliciting a Kaplan Professional employee to tell him confidential
information in order to “steal” business from Kaplan Professional.
Both companies provide continuing education, licensing and
certification for employees in the financial planning field and
compete for the same or similar clients.
The two individual defendants named in the lawsuit allegedly
shared highly confidential proprietary information with Dalton
Education, while still Kaplan Professional employees.
The lawsuit describes the various levels of protection Kaplan
employs to safeguard its intellectual property and trade secrets,
including IT security and Confidentiality and Restriction
Agreements with employees governing their use of company
information. Those protocols were violated, the lawsuit claims, by
the defendants.
The claim against Dalton Education and the individual defendants
includes nine counts of unlawful behavior, including violation of
trade secrets, computer fraud and abuse, tortious interference with
Kaplan Professional’s prospective economic advantage, and unfair
competition.
About Kaplan Professional
Kaplan is a leading international provider of training and
education services operating in more than 30 countries and working
with over 10,000 corporations and businesses globally. Kaplan
Professional helps professionals obtain and maintain in-demand
certifications, licenses and designations that enable them to
advance and succeed in their careers. Through live and online
instruction, Kaplan Professional provides test preparation,
licensing, continuing education, and professional development
programs to businesses and individuals in the accounting,
engineering, insurance, securities, real estate, financial
planning, and information technology industries. Kaplan, Inc. is
part of the Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC).
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190603005807/en/
MEDIA:Mark Harrad212 974-6231Mark.Harrad@kaplan.com
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