Ex-Zynga exec accepts responsibility in alleged trade secret theft

Zynga has reached a settlement with Kixeye and former Zynga general manager Alan Patmore concerning the alleged theft of trade secrets following Patmore's departure from the company last year. In 2012, Alan Patmore left his position as general manager of Zynga's Cityville to join rival social game developer Kixeye as its new vice president of product. In October of the same year, Zynga sued its former employee, alleging that in his departure Patmore had shared a Dropbox full of confidential financial and design documents with Kixeye. Kixeye, which was subsequently added as a defendant to the suit, wrote off the allegations. The company contended that the suit was in fact a smokescreen by which Zynga was attempting to access its company secrets. It requested that the court dismiss the suit. Fast forward to September 11th of 2013 and, as reported by TechCrunch, "Zynga Inc. and Kixeye Inc. have reached a mutually agreeable settlement of their litigation involving Alan Patmore," the two companies announced via a joint statement. In addition, Patmore has released a statement in which he confirms taking confidential information from his former employer, though he avoids the language of "trade secret." The statement follows:

"I accept responsibility for making a serious mistake by copying and taking Zynga confidential information when I resigned from Zynga. I understand the consequences of my actions and I sincerely apologize to Zynga and my former colleagues."

Zynga and Kixeye have not disclosed whether any sort of monetary compensation was part of the settlement.