Defense Lawyers in Trade Secrets Trial Against Technip FMC: Where’s the Beef? — Updated

A state jury in Houston is currently deliberating over whether Houston-based Dril-Quip and one of its engineers misappropriated trade secrets for a subsea drilling system owned by a hometown competitor, TechnipFMC, whether they did so maliciously, and whether FMC should be awarded tens-of-millions of dollars as a result. 

As defense lawyers for Dril-Quip and ex-FMC/current Dril-Quip engineer Rick Murphy delivered closing arguments midday on Tuesday, they left jurors with lots of technical information to consider packaged in a couple of food analogies about burgers and soda that may have caused jurors’ stomachs to rumble as they retired to the jury room to eat lunch and begin deliberations.