Averon’s Amended Suit vs. AT&T Gives More ‘Clarity’ on Trade Secrets

Averon’s unopposed motion for leave Thursday to file an amended trade secrets misappropriation complaint against AT&T appears to have negated Monday’s deadline for AT&T to answer the original Oct. 11 action (see 2210120040). AT&T is alleged to have courted Averon as a business partner for its passwordless authentication technology, only to use that technology to form the ZenKey joint venture with T-Mobile and Verizon. The amended complaint names “AT&T Corp.” and “AT&T Services” as the “proper” AT&T parties and drops “AT&T Inc.” without prejudice, said Averon’s motion (docket 1:22-cv-01341) in U.S. District Court for Delaware. It also provides “additional clarity” on the Averon trade secrets at issue in the dispute. Averon filed the proposed amended complaint under seal, and the public version is heavily redacted. The amended complaint “involves a Fortune 15 corporation that misappropriated proprietary software technology from a start-up company under the guise of collaboration, and then used its size advantage and monopoly power to drive the start-up out of business by poaching its existing and potential customers and locking it out of the marketplace,” it said. AT&T previously denied any wrongdoing, calling Averon’s lawsuit a publicity stunt (see 2210130012).