Best Buy Hit With $27 Million Judgment For Stealing Trade Secrets Dylan Duarte December 7, 2012 Extras Best Buy hasn’t been doing so hot in the past year as it struggles to stay afloat and now a recent judgment involving stealing trade secrets has dealt another blow to the company. The company has been ordered to pay $27 million to TechForward, a San Francisco-based startup that came up with the original concept for the Buy Back program and then helped Best Buy further develop the feature. The retail chain has been experimenting with different ideas in an attempt to bring business back to its stores and one of those ideas was the Buy Back program, which the company collaborated on with TechForward. Under the Buy Back program, Best Buy would purchase used electronics from customers for a percentage of their original price. At one point, Best Buy ended their collaboration with TechForward and ran with the idea on their own, despite TechForward being the original masterminds behind it. That didn’t sit well with TechForward or the court that they brought the lawsuit to, and now the dying Best Buy is that much closer to shutting its doors. via The Verge Share This With The World!
