WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) will continue to pursue its claims for significant damages resulting from theft of trade secrets and misappropriation of intellectual property by Indigo Systems Corporation and FLIR Systems, Inc., following a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that reversed an August 2009 decision by a federal district court in Texas.

The unanimous decision by the three-judge appellate court panel overturned the district court's ruling that had dismissed, on statute of limitations grounds, trade-secret misappropriation claims relating to infrared camera technology brought by Raytheon against Indigo/FLIR.

The Court of Appeals held that Raytheon had alleged that it reasonably relied on Indigo/FLIR's repeated, but false, assurances that specific policies and procedures had been implemented to safeguard Raytheon's trade secrets. The Court of Appeals thus revived the case and returned it to the district court for further proceedings. 

The district court, in its earlier ruling, had held that Raytheon's claims were time-barred as a matter of law on the theory that Raytheon should have suspected the wrongdoing and brought the lawsuit earlier. The Court of Appeals rejected that opinion, explaining that the district court had improperly resolved genuine issues of material fact against Raytheon and thereby intruded on the province of a jury. 

The case is Raytheon Co. v. Indigo Systems Corp., 2011-1245 and 2011-1246, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The lower court case is Raytheon Co. v. Indigo Systems Corp., 07-CV-0109, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Sherman).

About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2011 sales of $25 billion and 71,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 90 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter at @raytheon.

SOURCE Raytheon Company