Medicrea (EPA:ALMED) is seeking a temporary restraining order against K2M Spine and Kinetic Surgical, as well as former sales representatives Chad Jackson, Thom Thomas, Lauren Brown and William Haigh, according to court documents filed last week.
The company wrote that K2M is trying to play “catch-up” with Medicrea, alleging that it has poached 27% of the company’s sales force and has stolen trade secrets and confidential data.
The N.Y.-based company manufactures and sells a patient-specific spinal implant, UniD, which it bills as the first of its kind.
“Defendants are attempting to misappropriate Medicrea’s technology and eliminate the first mover competitive advantage Medicrea currently enjoys as a result of establishing this emerging market,” the company said.
In a court document, Medicrea described one example of K2M Spine’s “carefully orchestrated conspiracy” to gain access to confidential data. Medicrea alleges that in September, Brown and Haigh were forwarded an e-mail between K2M sales executives and Kinetic’s owner, Joseph Furtek, which included details about Brown and Haigh’s hiring as well as information about K2M’s meetings with two Medicrea customers who worked with Brown and Haigh.
The e-mail also allegedly detailed K2M’s plans to convert business from those two clients. The company alleges that Haigh tried, unsuccessfully, to delete copies of that particular e-mail chain.
Medicrea also claimed that Brown attempted to erase all records on her company-owned phone and laptop in early October. Later that month, Brown allegedly visited a Medicrea customer as a K2M sales associate, which the company said violates her non-competition agreement.
Analisa Torres, a judge for the U.S. district court for the southern district of New York, ordered the defendants to show cause by Nov. 28 as to why a temporary restraining order is not needed. The judge also denied Medicrea’s request to proceed ex parte.
