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. 1 (“Compl.”) 4 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 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…