U.S. District Court Limits Mattson’s Trade Secret Discovery to Pleaded 'Green Path' and 'Grey Path' Technologies

SAN JOSE (LN) — U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Van Keulen on Tuesday granted in part and denied in part Applied Materials’ request for a protective order, barring Mattson Technology from seeking discovery on trade secrets not sufficiently identified in its First Amended Complaint.

The dispute centers on Mattson’s allegations that former employees Vladimir Nagorny and Rene George, now working for Applied Materials, misappropriated proprietary technology developed under a project called “Project Traveler.”

Mattson’s complaint specifically identifies two approaches: the “Green Path” and the “Grey Path.” However, in response to interrogatories, Mattson identified 12 distinct trade secrets, including those related to “Red Path,” direct plasma sources, and high-efficiency plasma sources generally.

Applied Materials moved for a protective order, arguing that Mattson was attempting to use discovery to introduce entirely new, unpleaded trade secrets.

The court agreed with Applied Materials, citing the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Quintara Biosciences, Inc. v. Ruifeng Biztech, Inc. While Quintara held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act does not require plaintiffs to identify trade secrets with particularity of discovery, it did not allow plaintiffs to bypass pleading requirements entirely.

The court quoted InteliClear, LLC v. ETC Glob. Holdings, Inc. for the principle that plaintiffs may not simply rely upon “catchall” phrases or identify categories of trade secrets they intend to pursue at trial.

Judge Van Keulen found that Mattson’s First Amended Complaint put Applied Materials on notice only of trade secrets related to the Green Path and Grey Path approaches, including the design, testing, and validating of equipment for those specific paths.

Consequently, the court ruled that Mattson may not seek discovery into Trade Secret 12, which relates to the “Red Path” approach. The court also limited discovery into other trade secrets to the extent they relate to the Green and Grey Path approaches, excluding direct plasma sources and high-efficiency sources unrelated to those specific paths.

The order states that Mattson may not use “Project Traveler” as a “catch-all” trade-secret nor “plasma sources” as a category of endless trade secrets.

The court also addressed Mattson’s objections to Applied Materials’ interrogatories, sustaining some objections regarding the compound nature of the questions but overruling others.

The court permitted Mattson to seek leave to amend its complaint to include additional trade secrets, noting that it would not resolve the merits of those unpleaded secrets at this stage. Applied Materials may oppose any such amendment.

Mattson’s prior counsel had previously represented to the court that the trade secrets in the case were limited to the Green and Grey Path approaches, a representation the court relied on in its earlier dismissal order.