Originally posted on February 3, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
A former Duracell employee pleaded guilty Friday February 2, 2007 to one count of stealing trade secrets from the battery company.
Edward Grande waived indictment and pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Janet Hall in Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Connor said in a statement.
Grande, who had been employed as a cell development technologist at Duracell, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Duracell Corporation, which is based in Bethel, Connecticut is a unit of Procter & Gamble.
While under employment with Duracell, Grande shared confidential corporate documents with external sources.
-Procter & Gamble Co.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Edward Grande copied and downloaded research regarding Duracell’s AA batteries to his computer between March and June 2006.
He then sent the information to two of Duracell’s rivals “in order to cause economic injury to Duracell and to provide the competitors with an economic advantage,” Kevin O’Connor’s statement said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, neither of Duracell’s competitors had sought the trade secret information and both sent the information they received back to Duracell.
The competitors were not named in court documents and Edward Grande’s attorney declined to disclose their names.
Duracell is the largest U.S. battery maker, followed by Energizer Holdings Inc. and Spectrum Brands Inc.’s Rayovac.
I’m sure it’s safe to say that it was one of the above companies that Edward Grande shared Duracell trade secrets with but we’ll have to wait until more documents or statements are disclosed.