(By Balachander) Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is said to have filed a lawsuit against Alan Patmore, its former CityVille general manager, alleging "theft" of company trade secrets.
The San Francisco-based Facebook-game developer claims that Patmore took 760 Zynga documents that contained sensitive information about its operations.
Zynga says Patmore took files that are critically important to the game maker's business, including revenue projections, monetization plans, more than 10 unreleased game design documents, employee compensation details, strategic road maps, and his entire email box, containing 14 months of confidential communications, All Things Digital reported. "In short, Patmore copied virtually every email he received or sent while he was a GM at Zynga," according to the complaint accessed by All Things Digital.
The Farmville developer claims in the complaint that the data Patmore took from Zynga could be used to "improve a competitor's internal understanding and know-how of core game mechanics and monetization techniques."
Last Friday, Zynga successfully got a temporary restraining order from the court, which bars Patmore from using or disclosing the data in any way.
Patmore joined Zynga in June 2011 and has served as the general manager of CityVille. In August 2011, Patmore left Zynga and joined social game maker in San Francisco, Kixeye, as vice president of product.
Patmore, who most recently served as the General Manager of CityVille at Zynga, will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of product strategy and development, Kixeye had said in a statement on August 23.