Patel Burica and Associates, Inc. v. Jason Lin

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

This case concerns the alleged infringement of a structural engineering firm’s copyrighted designs, as well as the alleged misappropriation of that firm’s other non- copyrighted trade secrets, by a former employee. For the purpose of this motion, and unless stated otherwise, the Court assumes the truth of the following allegations. Plaintiff Patel Burica & Associates, Inc. (“PBA”) is a structural engineering firm based in Irvine, California. ECF No. (“Compl.”) 2. Defendant Jason Lin (“Lin”) is a structural engineer who was employed by PBA in 2006 as an intern, and between 2011 and 2014 as a staff engineer. Id. 3. After leaving PBA, Lin joined a competing engineering firm in Irvine and also formed a new entity based in Arcadia, California—defendant JKL Structural Engineering, Inc. (“JKL”)—to provide private structural engineering services to clients. Id. 4, 7. PBA filed this action on September 25, 2019. Id. PBA claims that it “created numerous copyright-protected design details” for use in its structural plans, and “registered the copyrights.” Id. ]5. PBA refers to these…