On October 5, 2020, FMC Technologies, Inc. (“FMC”) sued Dril-Quip, Inc. (the “Company”) alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and seeking money damages and injunctive relief in the 127th District Court of Harris County in an action styled FMC Technologies, Inc. v. Richard Murphy and Dril-Quip, Inc., Cause No. 2020-63081. FMC alleges that its former employee communicated FMC trade secrets to the Company prior to being hired by the Company and that the Company used those trade secrets in its VXTe subsea tree systems. The Company denies these allegations and intends to vigorously defend against this lawsuit.
The information in this Current Report on Form 8-K is being furnished, not filed, pursuant to Item 7.01. Accordingly, the information in this Current Report on Form 8-K will not be incorporated by reference into any registration statement filed by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, unless specifically identified therein as being incorporated therein by reference.
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Yeah, the only good thing merged with Technip is lay off employees...B.S...
Ridiculous ... and Jalousie....
And DRQ is the opposite. You’d think they are run by the KGB.
I just read this. It is funny on so many levels, as explained:
- First, when the current CEO came on board at FMC, it was rumored he thought the company did a poor job of protecting Intellectual Property, and he was going to make fundamental changes. Believe me, if I heard it, many, many people did. Great job DP !!
- Second, the employee in question was the subsea tree Chief Engineer while at TFMC. He actually showed me this concept in 2017-2018, it was helical-fashioned downhole lines that could compress like a helical spring, and rotate/anti-rotate like a spiral spring. Everyone knows a non-orientating tree is the Holy Grail of the market, and it is much easier to rotate a couple hundred pounds of tree downhole lines versus a 60 ton tree. I believe he was already collaborating with suppliers for the coiled line concepts. However, he wasn’t dumb and knew he would be in a difficult place with a signed NDA in place. I’m guessing he didn’t have one with TFMC.
- How on earth did the Subsea Technology Manager not know a patent or NDA was not in place, how derelict.
Somebody at TFMC should be fired over this.
FMC’s only trade secrets were how they encouraged and covered up racism.
Who cares ?
Which project?
It sounds like a big publicity campaign to put both companies on the eye of investors. FMC is a company that is in big troubles after the merge which put their cash flow in a big fall when ever Technip couldn’t help with the big Expensive and massive project that was canceled after the market crash leaving them in a big hole. I hope the judge don’t rule in their favor. It would be like Pepsi and Coca Cola having a lawsuit for their secret formula. Or requesting a John deer and caterpillar to don’t copy each other on the yellow paint. 🤔