A court has dismissed Kaseya’s trade secret claim against upstart rival Slide with prejudice, according to a document seen by IT Channel Oxygen.
As reported by The Business of Tech, Kaseya’s Datto arm moved to sue Slide in the Delaware Court of Chancery last Autumn.
It alleged that Slide – which was launched last February by Datto alumni Austin McChord and Michael Fass – “misappropriated” its trade secrets to launch a competing back-up and disaster recovery (BCDR) company.
Both Kaseya and Slide’s positions were explored at the time by Dave Sobel of The Business of Tech (see here), as well as in this report by CRN US.
Six months on, Slide appears to have scored at least a partial victory in the case, according to a publicly available Delaware Court of Chancery filing dated 13 April we have seen.
According to the filing, the two parties “have conferred and agreed to the dismissal of Datto’s Trade Secret Claim”.
Datto’s “remaining Original claims excluding the Trade Secret Claim” will be “deferred and tried alongside the Parties’ New Claims and Counterclaims” in a June 2027 trial, the filing adds, however.
It states:
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, by the Parties hereto, through their undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, as follows:
1. Datto’s Trade Secret Claim (D.I. 154, Count I) is hereby dismissed with prejudice.
2. Datto may not pursue claims for Violation of Delaware’s Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, 6 Del. C. § 2531, et seq. (Count II), Tortious Interference with Prospective Business Opportunities and Relations (Count IV), and/or Unfair Competition (Count V) based on any alleged misappropriation, misuse, or disclosure of trade secrets or confidential information.
In a statement to IT Channel Oxygen, a Slide representative said:
“As we have said consistently from the outset of this case, Slide believes in the legal system. Because we are still involved in active litigation, we prefer not to comment further at this time. The court papers are all available in the public domain.”
Kaseya declined to comment.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Sobel said the fact Kaseya’s trade secrets claim has been dismissed tracks what experts he interviewed in his original piece indicated.
“These [types of cases] are exceptionally difficult to prove, particularly in a competitive employee departure scenario,” he said.
“What’s interesting, and what I think is more telling, is what’s left. We have a trial date, where Datto still believes there are claims worth pursuing for another year or year and a half.”
The news comes just as Slide used a $70m funding injection to expand into the UK and EMEA.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen last week, Slide CEO Fass opened up on his MSP recruitment plans for this side of the pond, revealing that Slide is set to open a UK datacentre next month.
Kaseya is gearing up for its flagship Kaseya Connect event in Las Vegas next week, meanwhile.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
