Page:MGE UPS Systems Inc. v. GE Consumer and Industrial Inc. (5th Cir., 20 July 2010).djvu/16

No. 08-10521 since 2002, and that the only data disk found was in a former employee’s possession who admitted to keeping it for his own reference after he left the company. However, GE/PMI admitted to five instances of direct copyright infringement, and MGE presented numerous instances of GE/PMI’s infringing activity at trial, including some uses of MGE software that occurred after the district court entered its preliminary injunction and impoundment order in August 2005. Additionally, the laptops of two trial witnesses who admitted to using MGE software and trade secrets, respectively, were never recovered, and GE/PMI failed to offer conclusive evidence to account for these laptops’ absence.

Given that there may be infringing materials still in GE/PMI’s possession, and given GE/PMI’s failure to conform to the constraints of the preliminary injunction, the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting a permanent injunction against GE/PMI’s future use of MGE’s software and trade secrets.

For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court’s grant of GE/PMI’s Rule 50(a) motion dismissing MGE’s DMCA claim. We also AFFIRM the district court’s grant of a permanent injunction against GE/PMI’s use of MGE’s software and trade secrets. We REVERSE the district court’s denial of GE/PMI’s Rule 50(a) motion on MGE’s copyright infringement, unfair competition, and misappropriation of trade secrets claims for MGE’s failure to prove damages under 17 U.S.C. § 504(b) and Texas law, and RENDER a take-nothing judgment for MGE. 16