Erik W. Weibust, Member of the Firm in the Litigation & Business Disputes and Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practices, in the firm’s Boston office, authored an article in Pratt’s Government Contracting Law Report, titled “Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night . . . Will Stop the U.S. Postal Service from Stealing Its Contractor’s Trade Secrets?”
Following is an excerpt (see below to download the full version in PDF format):
The U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) allegedly stole Express One’s trade secrets to create its own competing e-commerce business and cut Express One out. The author of this article discusses Express One’s complaint and notes that if Express One can prove wrongdoing, it could end up costing the USPS more than $500 million in damages, plus injunctive relief. …
It is no secret that the U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) has been struggling financially for well over a decade. One means of combatting its struggles has been to contract with third-party resellers to market USPS services and drive customers to it. Indeed, just one of those resellers, Express One, delivered over $3 billion in revenue to the USPS in the past 12 months alone. Although the annual operating budget of the USPS is $77 billion, $3 billion is still real money—especially since the USPS suffered losses of $6.9 billion last year.
The USPS apparently does not ascribe to the idiom “don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” as it allegedly stole Express One’s trade secrets to create its own competing e-commerce business and cut Express One out. That could end up costing the USPS more than $500 million in damages, plus injunctive relief, if Express One can prove wrongdoing.
