September 7, 2018
Monrovia, CA
In November 2016, Auritec Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Auritec, a for-profit pharmaceutical company) filed a federal complaint and a demand for arbitration against Oak Crest Institute of Science (Oak Crest, a non-profit science research and education organization) alleging trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract. The Federal complaint was dismissed by Auritec in December 2016.
In August 2018, the California Superior Court rendered judgment confirming an arbitration award pertaining to the above dispute between Oak Crest and Auritec. The judgment and award rejected Auritec’s trade secret claims, finding that Auritec failed to establish any protected trade secrets or that that Oak Crest misappropriated any alleged Auritec trade secret. Other than some nominal invoice payments, the judgment and award also denied Auritec’s breach of contract claims.
The judgment and award confirmed Oak Crest’s principal claim that under its previous contract with Auritec, Oak Crest possessed the right to use jointly developed intellectual property for research purposes. Oak Crest looks forward to continuing its valuable research in the area of sustained release drug delivery for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases, notably HIV.