Oracle sues payment software company Procore over trade secrets

Procore Technologies

28/10/2024 16:06

By Blake Brittain
       Oct 28 (Reuters) - Software giant Oracle  ORCL.N  has
sued construction industry software company Procore Technologies
 PCOR.N  in California federal court, accusing Procore of
stealing confidential information to build up its business.
    Oracle's lawsuit, filed on Friday, alleged that its former
employee Mark Mariano took "thousands" of trade secrets to his
new job at Procore, which enabled the company to launch a rival
software platform for construction payment management.
    Spokespeople for Procore and attorneys and spokespeople for
Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment on
the complaint on Monday. Mariano could not be reached for
comment.
    Austin, Texas-based Oracle said that Mariano previously
worked for Textura Payment Management, a construction invoice
and payment services provider that Oracle acquired in 2016. The
lawsuit said that Mariano led Oracle's team focusing on
integrating other companies' software with Oracle's payment
management software.
    Carpinteria, California-based Procore hired Mariano away
from Oracle in 2021, according to the complaint. Oracle said
that Mariano took thousands of its files to Procore including
source code, customer information and research plans that
allowed the "struggling" company to transform its business.
    "Shortly after Mariano joined Procore with Oracle's trade
secret documents in hand, Procore finally announced the launch
of its own competing platform" and "quickly released
integrations like those that Oracle had previously released
while Mariano was working on those technologies."
    Oracle requested an unspecified amount of monetary damages
and a court order blocking Procore from misusing its trade
secrets.
    The case is Oracle America Inc v. Procore Technologies Inc,
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No.
3:24-cv-07457.
    For Oracle: Adam Alper, Michael De Vries and Leslie Schmidt
of Kirkland & Ellis
    For Procore: attorney information not yet available
     

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)