Atiz Innovation Co. v. Warnock CA2/3

BACKGROUND

I. Underlying facts

The following facts have been gleaned from evidence presented at the May 2021 bench trial unless otherwise indicated. When he was a Ph.D. student, Sarasin Booppanon devised a device to automate the scanning of books. His book scanner has since become the standard method for digitizing books, utilized by universities, government, organizations, and museums, including the U.S. Supreme Court, U.C. Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and the Library of Congress.

1All undesignated statutory references that follow are to the Corporations Code.

2 Booppanon saw defendant Warnock, a photocopier salesman, on a reality TV show called “The Apprentice” in 2004. He contacted Warnock to ask whether he would be interested in a business partnership. In or around 2006, Booppanon and Warnock agreed that Booppanon would set up a company in Thailand, Plaintiff Atiz Innovation Company Limited (hereinafter Atiz Thailand), to manufacture the scanners, and Warnock would set up a company in California, Defendant Atiz Innovation, Inc. (hereinafter Atiz California), to sell the book scanners exclusively in North America, including the United States, Canada, and Mexico.…