Western Digital says court vacates arbitration award issued against company

On October 12, the District Court of Hennepin County, Minnesota vacated, in full, the $630.4M final arbitration award previously issued against Western Digital (WDC) in the arbitration between the Company and Seagate Technology (STX) that concluded on January 23. In the arbitration, Seagate alleged, among other things, misappropriation of eight alleged trade secrets by the Company and a now former employee. The Court confirmed the arbitration award with respect to each of the five trade secret claims that Western Digital and the former employee had won at the arbitration, and vacated the arbitration award with respect to the three trade secret claims that Western Digital and the former employee had lost. The Court ordered that a rehearing be held concerning those three alleged trade secrets before a new arbitrator agreed upon by the parties and that if by November 2 the parties are unable to reach agreement, then the Court will appoint a new arbitrator.