Starwood Sues Hilton and Two Former Starwood Executives for Corporate Espionage,
Theft of Trade Secrets, Unfair Competition
Theft of Trade Secrets, Unfair Competition
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc announced that it has formally filed a lawsuit against Hilton Hotels Corporation and senior executives Ross Klein and Amar Lalvani. The lawsuit says that Klein, who was former president of Starwood's Luxury Brands Group and Lalvani, former Senior Vice President of Starwood's Luxury Brands Group, stole massive amounts of confidential information in regard to Starwood's marketing strategies. They believe that the stealing of information aided Hilton in opening the "lifestyle hotel" market and thus crippled Starwood's market share. They are accused of stealing more than 100,000 electronic files both before and after joining Hilton. Among the files were confidential plans regarding their W Brand, which Hilton used illegally to develop their own Denizen brand. Starwood is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive damages from Hilton, Klein and Lalvani. They are also seeking a court order demanding that Hilton refrain from using or benefiting from Starwood's confidential information and requiring that they immediately return all of the obtained information.
I believe this was a really shady move on Hilton's part. It is very suspicious that they recruited the men after they began giving Hilton information and continued to wrongfully use Starwood's ideas and strategies to develop their own brand and attempt to get ahead in the "lifestyle hotel" market. I think that the courts should rule in favor of Starwood as they seem to have adequate evidence to prove that what was done was illegal and that it severly crippled Starwood as a result.
Hotel Online
http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2009_2nd/Apr09_StarwoodHilton.html
