U.S. high-frequency trading firm and blockchain technology developer ‘Jump’ has filed a complaint against its former software developer claiming that he has breached his contract by allegedly stealing and using company’s intellectual property (IP) to start a competitive business that directly competes with Jump.
The complaint was filed in a Chicago federal court on January 21 against Liam Heeger, former employee at Jump, where it has been alleged that the accused worked as one of the lead software engineers on Firedancer, a “major blockchain project” of Jump and helped to analyze, design, write, and optimize blockchain code from February 2023 till his resignation on November 11, 2024.
Meanwhile, on January 22, Heeger said on X post, that he left Firedancer to find Unto Labs, which will work on creating a “next-generation layer-1 blockchain.”
According to the reports, Jump has accused Heeger for starting work on the venture while still an employee and further claimed, “He developed and had considerable access to highly sensitive confidential and proprietary information, including knowledge and information on business plans and strategies, blockchain models, unreleased codebases, and software tools.”
The company further added, “Jump’s ability to run its business profitably in the blockchain space depends on its ability to keep its intellectual property — including strategies, proprietary data, research, and technology confidential.”
The firm has accused Heeger the firm said that he had collected $3 million in funding at a $50 million valuation within one month of his resignation and further stated that he met with venture capital firms to raise funds for the new business at the Breakpoint conference in Singapore while he was still working for the company.
Jump claimed that Heeger has revealed the information to a former Jump college after his resignation and told his former supervisor that he would no longer comply with the non-competition agreement because he had moved to California, where the laws differ from Illinois.
The company has asked the court to implement the terms of the non-competition agreement for the contractually dictated two years and prevent anyone from working with Heeger on the new venture that might violate the terms.
Jump also asked to court to order Heeger to return the firm’s intellectual property that it believed he may still have. However, Heeger and Unto Labs have not immediately responded to this request for comment.
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