Federal Judge Blocks Former Co-Founder From Using Cloned Mortgage Tech Platform

SAN FRANCISCO (LN) — U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman on Friday granted a preliminary injunction in a trade secret dispute between two former co-founders, barring Minh Duc Pham from using or deploying a mortgage technology platform he allegedly cloned from their joint venture.

The order halts Pham’s use of the One Amo Platform, a proprietary software system built by co-founder Thanh Son Tran, which Pham allegedly copied for his separate company, Wonder Rates, Inc.

Tran, the chief technology officer of One Amo, Inc., sued Pham in December 2025, alleging that Pham misappropriated the company’s source code and diverted its value to Wonder Rates. The complaint accused Pham of “secretly clon[ed] the technology stack, customer database, and business of” One Amo.

Freeman found that Tran was likely to succeed on the merits of his claim under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, ruling that the evidence strongly suggested One Amo, not Wonder Rates, owned the platform.

“funding the platform is not the same as owning it,” Freeman wrote, rejecting Pham’s argument that Wonder Rates owned the technology because it provided capital.

The judge noted that contemporaneous written agreements, including founder equity negotiations and assignment clauses, indicated the parties intended for One Amo to own the platform. Freeman also dismissed declarations from engineers hired by Tran, finding them of “no evidentiary value” due to questionable reliability and language barriers.

The injunction enjoins Pham and Wonder Rates from copying, cloning, modifying, or using the disputed technology. It also requires them to disable all public-facing systems derived and place them in a “forensically sound, non-operational preservation state.”

Freeman temporarily suspended Pham from exercising authority as a director or officer of One Amo to prevent the dissolution or transfer of assets during the litigation.

The judge declined to require Tran to post a bond, citing a provision in the founders’ agreement that allows for injunctions without security.

Pham had argued that Wonder Rates owned the platform because it funded and managed its development. Freeman found that position unpersuasive, noting it was directly at odds with Pham’s earlier stance that the companies co-developed the software.

The order requires both parties to submit sworn declarations within seven days confirming compliance with the injunction.