Judge Grants in Part AT&T’s Motion to Dismiss Averon’s Trade Secrets Complaint

U.S. Circuit Judge Todd Hughes for the Federal Circuit, sitting by designation in the U.S. District Court for Delaware in Wilmington, denied in part and granted in part AT&T’s motion to dismiss Averon’s first amended trade secrets complaint, said his signed order Monday (docket 1:22-cv-01341). Averon alleges AT&T courted it as a business partner for Averon's passwordless authentication technology, only for the carrier to use that technology to form the ZenKey joint venture with T-Mobile and Verizon, foreclosing Averon as a direct market competitor (see 2301100002). The judge denied AT&T’s motion to dismiss three counts of Averon’s complaint that alleged trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract but granted its motion to dismiss six other counts involving allegations of fraud and misrepresentation, unfair competition and intentional interference with Averon’s customers. The judge’s memorandum opinion was sealed, but he ordered the parties to jointly submit a redacted version for public filing by March 11.