Federal court bars Barco, Inc. from using Q4 Services trade secrets.

ORLANDO, FL, USA ˇV On August 20, 2010, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Dayton) issued a preliminary injunction that prohibits Barco, Inc. and all of its affiliates and entities working with Barco from using or disclosing four trade secrets belonging to Q4 Services LLC relating to a collimating film mirror. The trade secrets were originally developed in 2005 and 2006 by Q4 Services for its range of SupraVue™ collimating display products. The case started when Barco sued Q4 in April 2009. Barco claimed that Q4 had stolen Barco's trade secrets for a film mirror. Q4 filed a counterclaim explaining that it was Barco which had stolen Q4's trade secrets for a film mirror.

In April and May 2010, the Court conducted an 11-day hearing, in which it heard testimony from numerous witnesses from both Barco and Q4. On June 30, 2010, the Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order that prohibited Barco from making a scheduled shipment of a display system to a customer. The Court found that the collimating film mirror manufactured and sold by Barco under the CCCD 2245 name used the trade secrets previously developed by Q4.

On August 20, 2010, the Court issued a 56-page preliminary injunction decision. The Court concluded that Q4 had not copied any trade secrets belonging to Barco, but rather, that Barco had copied trade secrets belonging to Q4. The Court stated that Barco had failed even to show serious questions going to the merits of Barco's claim that it owned the Q4 trade secrets.

The Court therefore barred Barco from "using (including future use to assist in development or design of any film mirror product) or disclosing (including by means of marketing or selling)" four trade secrets belonging to Q4 Services LLC relating to collimating film mirrors.

Link here to read the story in the Dayton Daily News.

About Q4 Services

Q4 Services is the worldˇ¦s largest supplier of Panasonic Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) to the simulation market and is also the leading independent provider of simulation display solutions internationally. Q4 is truly unique in its ability to offer independent system solutions to the global training industry. With locations in Orlando FL, USA and Cambridge, UK, Q4 Services is able to provide integrated ˇ§Total Display Solutionsˇ¨ tailored to meet the particular needs of any customer worldwide.