From Judge Wendy Beetlestone (E.D. Pa.)'s opinion in Houser v. Feldman & Temple Univ., decided Thursday, here are the plaintiff's allegations (note, as usual, that they are just the allegations, since this is an opinion on defendant's motion to dismiss):
Houser and his laboratory staff ("lab") developed a pig model ("Pig Model") by inducing heart attacks in pigs and opening their arteries after ninety minutes. He and his lab then took tissue samples from these models ("Pig Samples"), conducted tests of therapies for the treatment of heart failure, and collected data pertaining to heart function ("Pig Data"). Houser alleges that, together, the Pig Model, Pig Samples and Pig Data ("Pig Materials") constitute his trade secrets. He further alleges that the Pig Materials are valuable because they have "broad clinical significance" as tests on such models are necessary precursors to the development of potential treatments and therapies for humans.
Defendant Feldman, like Houser, was studying heart failure. Specifically, he was studying the relationship between heart failure and levels of a molecule known as "BAG3" on a mouse model. Feldman did not have a large animal model like Houser's Pig Model, and his mouse model did not hold the same degree of relevancy or significance to the development of human therapies and treatments.
For whatever reason, sometime in 2014 or 2015, Feldman told one of the graduate students working in Houser's lab, Thomas Sharp, that Houser had authorized Feldman to use the Pig Data and Pig Samples for his BAG3 research and that Houser would be a collaborator on forthcoming papers. In reality, Houser had not provided any such authorization, and Feldman had managed to lure Sharp into providing him with Houser's trade secrets ("Stolen Pig Materials"). In 2015, Feldman and Sharp co-authored and published a paper that included the Stolen Pig Data and additional data derived from the Pig Samples. In 2017, Houser learned of this and reported Feldman to the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs at Temple's School of Medicine, who in turn, forwarded Houser's report to Temple's Integrity Officer and Vice President of Research, Michele Masucci.
