On April 22, a jury announced a $25 million award to Baker Hughes Inc. in its trade secrets lawsuit against Varel International Energy Services. Jurors awarded treble damages after finding Varel acted with malice when several of its managers, who formerly worked at Baker Hughes, used a stolen drill bit design to copy and produce a Baker Hughes product.

The Court determined Varel made nearly $6 million in profits from selling the copied drill bit beginning in 2004, and that Baker Hughes lost $1.5 million in fees it would have received for research and development.

In the filing of the lawsuit in November 2009, Baker Hughes claimed a Varel engineer stole the design for a 7 7/8-inch drill bit instead of shredding the designs at the completion of the Baker Hughes project.

Before the jury announced the verdict, Baker Hughes and Varel agreed to a licensing arrangement, allowing Varel to continue selling the drill bits.

SOURCE: “Baker Hughes awarded $25 million in Varel case,” Houston Chronicle, April 27, 2010 (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/side/6978408.html).