Appian (NASDAQ: APPN) has announced its intention to appeal the decision by the Court of Appeals of Virginia and seek to reinstate its judgment of willful and malicious trade secret misappropriation against Pegasystems Inc. The verdict from the jury was based on seven weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses and thousands of pages of documents, demonstrating that Pegasystems employed a "spy" to analyze the inner workings of Appian’s software, improve its own product, and generate billions of dollars in revenue based on its misappropriation.
The Virginia jury found Pegasystems violated the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, and Pegasystems declined to appeal that ruling, meaning that the violation by Pegasystems is confirmed and final.
Appian presented evidence during the trial that Pegasystems hired an employee of a government contractor to provide Pegasystems with access to Appian's software in an effort to better compete against Appian. The contractor, referred to as a "spy" internally at Pegasystems, helped Pegasystems generate dozens of video recordings of the Appian development environment for use in compiling competitive materials and evaluating improvements to its platform.
If a new trial is ordered, Appian will seek the full amount of its damages claim presented in the original trial, which exceeds $3 billion.
Appian remains confident that the evidence of misappropriation and the right to corresponding damages will be properly addressed by Virginia courts. Christopher Winters, the general counsel of Appian, stated, "We will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia and will seek to reinstate the verdict."
Appian is a software company that automates business processes, and its Appian AI Process Platform is trusted by the world's most innovative organizations to improve workflows, unify data, and optimize operations, resulting in better growth and superior customer experiences. Following these announcements, the company's shares moved -2.1%, and are now trading at a price of $37.02. For more information, read the company's full 8-K submission here.
