The Romance of Trade Secrets: Competing Speed Dating Companies Engaged in Trade Secret Misappropriation Battle

Dating comes with its own set of challenges, and apparently, these now include trade secrets!  This month, a speed dating service provider, Speed Date USA Inc. (“Speed Date”) filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Match.com (“Match”) in Pennsylvania federal court.

According to the Complaint, the parties had an agreement under which Speed Date would operate and manage speed dating events for Match for a period of two years.  Match would then allegedly pay Speed Date $25 for each ticket the company sold, as well as an additional fee per person for events with more than twenty participants.  Under the terms of the agreement, each party was required to give sixty days written notice in order to terminate the event.  Furthermore, for termination purposes, no “agreed upon events” could be” outstanding,” and scheduled events could only be canceled with five days notice.  However, Match allegedly terminated the agreement a year before its scheduled termination, and in the process, cancelled more than 80 scheduled speed dating events. 

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