InfoSpace sues former CEO Jain over trade secrets

InfoSpace Inc, an Internet content and services company, said it has sued its founder and former chief executive, Naveen Jain, alleging he misused company secrets.

The Bellevue, Washington, company said late on Monday that it had filed suit in King County Superior Court in Seattle, against Jain, Kevin Marcus, and Intelius, the company recently formed by Jain.

Marcus, formerly an executive at InfoSpace, is now chief technology officer at Intelius.

InfoSpace said the suit accuses Jain and Marcus of violating their non-compete agreements with InfoSpace, misappropriating InfoSpace trade secrets and confidential information, and wrongfully interfering with InfoSpace's contractual relationships.

Jain in December was fired as InfoSpace's

Jain said that his new company provides services different from those offered by InfoSpace, and said the suit is retaliation for allegations he has made about fiduciary misappropriation by current InfoSpace board members.

"The only reason that this suit is going on is that for the past few weeks I have been exposing to the board all the insider dealings ... by current management," he said.

Representatives for InfoSpace were not immediately available to comment on these accusations.

Shares of InfoSpace fell $1.25, or 11 per cent, to $9.84, in afternoon trade on Tuesday, after earlier falling as low as $9.46.