Wolfgang Arnold v. International Business MacHines Corporation

Arnold brought suit against International Business Machines (IBM) and several of its employees (collectively, defendants) for alleged violations of his. civil rights. The violations about which Arnold complains arose out of criminal action taken against him for the theft of IBM documents and trade secrets. He appeals from the district judge’s entry of summary judgment for defendants and from the district judge’s denial of his discovery motion. We affirm.

I

In 1970, IBM became aware that certain documents, which involved what IBM considered proprietary information and trade secrets, had been stolen and were in the possession of outsiders. The information contained in these documents was the drawings and specifications for certain IBM disc drives. IBM’s efforts in the next two years to locate the disloyal source within IBM and the outside buyers of these documents were largely unsuccessful. In December 1972, IBM hired Richard Callahan as manager of security for its San Jose operation. Callahan’s primary responsibility was the protection of IBM’s proprietary information. He undertook to investigate the theft of the drawings for the “Merlin” or 3330 disc drive and to discover…