Huthwaite, Inc. v. Randstad General Partner (US), L.L.C., No. 06 C 1548, 2006 WL 3065470 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 24, 2006) (Lefkow, J.).

Plaintiff, a corporate sales training services provider, contacted defendant, an employment services provider, to discuss improving defendant’s sales training offerings.  Plaintiff told defendant that it knew defendant’s current training materials incorporated techniques from plaintiff’s copyrighted books — "SPIN Selling" and "Major Account Sales Strategy" — but assured defendant that it would not file a copyright infringement suit.  As discussions between the parties progressed, plaintiff asked to review defendant’s training materials and promised defendant that it would not bring a copyright suit if the materials contained plaintiff’s copyrighted information.   Defendant ultimately gave plaintiff its training materials, but only after signing a nondisclosure agreement requiring that the documents not be used for, among other things, filing a copyright infringement suit.  Two days after receiving defendant’s documents, plaintiff filed a copyright infringement suit.  In response, defendant filed fraud and breach of contract counterclaims alleging that plaintiff was engaged in a broad scheme to leverage its copyrights be gaining the trust of potential infringers through marketing discussions and that the suit breached the nondisclosure agreement between the parties.Continue Reading Breaking A Promise Not To Sue Is Not Fraud, But It May Be A Breach Of Contract