The threat from within for energy companies: trade secret theft by former employees. The steep cost of developing valuable new technologies or products can make energy companies choice targets for trade secret theft. Yet, despite such legitimate concerns, it is also a common practice for former employees of energy companies to move around and work for direct competitors of their past employers and never divulge trade secrets gained from prior employment.

The Texas Supreme Court recently consented to review a a petition for a writ of mandamus filed in December 2014 by a Schlumberger subsidiary, M-I LLC, d/b/a M-I SWACO, related to ruling in a trade secrets dispute in a Harris County District Court. Schlumberger complains that the presiding judge in the trial court erred by allowing a party alleged to have stolen trade secrets to be in the courtroom during evidentiary proceedings that talked about the trade secrets that were the subject of the case. The case is “In Re M-I, LLC d/b/a M-I SWACO,” Case No. 14-1045.

The parties involved in the litigation, National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and M-I SWACO, are both oil-and-gas-services companies that manage waste products created by drilling. In the petition for writ of mandamus filed with the Texas Supreme Court, M-I SWACO stated that in early 2014, NOV hired Jeff Russo, one of M-I SWACO's business-development managers.