By PETER KEY
Philadelphia Business Journal

A local interpretation-and-translation company and two of its employees lost an early round in a trade-secrets case initiated by a Monterey, Calif.-based competitor.

A federal judge in San Jose, Calif., recently granted Language Line Services Inc.'s request for a preliminary injunction against Language Services Associates LLC, William Schwartz and Patrick Curtin. The injunction prohibits LSA, Schwartz and Curtin from using, copying or destroying materials that Schwartz and Curtin, who work for LSA, allegedly took from Language Line.

Schwartz and Curtin are residents of Western New York and graduates of the University at Buffalo.

They and LSA were sued by Language Line in June for misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract, among other things.

In the suit it filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Language Line alleged that Curtin, who worked for it prior to joining LSA, conspired with others at LSA to recruit Schwartz and that Schwartz, when he left Language Line, took some of its trade secrets and confidential information about its customers to LSA.

Language Line didn't ask for a specific amount of damages in the suit.

Lawrence Hinkle, who represents LSA, said in a statement issued by the company that the allegations it "hired previous Language Line Services employees to steal trade secrets are completely false."

Hinkle, a Los Angeles attorney with Philadelphia-based law firm Blank Rome, also said the lawsuit is part of an effort by Language Line to use litigation "to hold onto their slipping market share."

Language Line has been trying to get a decision by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services to award a contract to LSA in June 2009 overturned in Pennsylvania court but has not succeeded.

LSA was founded by its president and CEO, Laura Schriver, in 1991. She was named an Entrepreneur of the Year for Greater Philadelphia by Ernst & Young last month. She was named a Minority Business Leader by the Philadelphia Business Journal last fall.

In his order granting the preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge James Ware said Language Line has established a reasonable likelihood that it will succeed on its claim under the California Uniform Trade Secret Act. The act requires the plaintiff to demonstrate that it owned a trade secret; that the defendant acquired, disclosed or used the trade secret through improper means; and the defendant's actions damaged it.

Ware also said it is undisputed that LSA, Schwartz and Curtin improperly acquired and used the information, and that LSA's contention that it can't be liable for their actions is without merit.