A Schlumberger former general counsel for intellectual property has argued that the company has no evidence that she stole trade secrets. Charlotte Rutherford was accused by the company of stealing trade secrets before leaving Schlumberger to work for patent holding company Acacia Research Group which recently filed a patent infringement suit against Schlumberger. Her lawyers have argued that the company lacks ‘clear and specific’ evidence linking what she allegedly know about Schlumberger’s patents to Acacia’s decision to sue it for infringement. 

Patent infringement action

The original filing claimed that ‘As a result of litigation filed recently against Schlumberger by a third party, Schlumberger began an investigation regarding Ms. Rutherford’s departure … [and] discovered at that point that certain Schlumberger assets were not returned by Ms. Rutherford upon her departure.’ 

Acacia’s chief executive, Matthew Vella, said of the case: ‘The filing against Acacia Research senior vice president, Charlotte Rutherford, by her former employer, Schlumberger Ltd., is without merit and is a bullying tactic in response to a patent infringement action brought against Schlumberger. Schlumberger’s allegations are unfounded and we will vigorously defend this baseless action.’