$51.3 million lawsuit has Valley connections

ANCHORAGE — What began with a wolf pack on frozen Lake Louise in 2008 may eventually lead to multi-million dollar jury verdict.

The journey toward that verdict has not quite finished, but it may have passed a significant road sign in the last week.

The sign in question: $51.3 million in punitive damages awarded to the owners of Recreational Data Services, LLC (RDS), a mothballed Anchorage-based mobile application firm, over legal charges that Trimble Navigation Limited, a $2-billion GPS manufacturing firm with offices in 35 countries, used confidential and proprietary information to develop a phone application. Trimble disputes that RDS was ever in a partnership, and has vowed to appeal the ruling, reached by a jury Sept. 26. The verdict is potentially the largest of its kind in Alaska history, attorneys for the plaintiff say.

In early 2008, amid a large-scale boom in the number of smart-phone applications, Brian Feucht was out on Lake Louise on a snow machine when he spotted the wolves.

“I was driving across Lake Lousie, and there was an entire pack of wolves on the lake,” he said. “Do we shoot ‘em?”

He turned to his travelling companions and asked them, but no one in the party knew the winter regulations for hunting wolves on Lake Louise, and nobody could easily look them up. (According to Alaska Fish and Game web site, they could have, provided the snow machine’s motor was turned off and forward momentum had ceased, and any hides taken were sealed by a sealing officer within 30 days, though that can change depending on which of Alaska’s almost 30 game management units hunters are in).

Nevertheless, the encounter on Lake Louise sparked an idea. Feucht, a long-time software developer, came up with the idea, and rushed to see an Anchorage patent lawyer, who told him the notion of a phone app that would read your position and tell you what the regulations are in that particular part of Alaska was a good one. In fact, it was so good that another then-Anchoragite, Jim Belz, now living in Big Lake, had already seen him and filed a patent on it.

“I tracked him down, and called him up,” he said. “We spent about six months going back and forth, cleaning moose together.”

Eventually the pair decided to go into business together, and founded RDS. They had a patent, and an idea for how to market it, but they wanted to build it into a platform up to the task, and they needed a brand name that would help them market their new idea to hunters.

Eventually, they put together what Feucht called a “trifecta of talent,” by pooling resources from Trimble and firearm manufacturer Remington Arms Company, LLC. Remington eventually left after a leadership change in early 2009.

A lot of what happened next depends on which set of lawyers you speak with. The jury ultimately sided with RDS, Feucht and Belz.

RDS contends that they sent an executive summary of the project with confidential information, information Trimble later used to make and distribute a device in partnership with Cabela’s called “Recon Hunt.” Trimble contends the executive summary was not marked private or confidential, and says both companies had signed a Non Disclosure Agreement saying they might not pursue a joint venture, and could even develop rival applications. A partnership between Trimble’s and RDS never existed at all, Trimble lawyers contended in a trial brief, and Trimble had already built similar programs marketed to hikers, geo-cachers and participants in other outdoors activities years before the patent was filed, according to court documents.

“We showed up for the meeting with Cabela’s,” Feucht said. “Trimble was supposed to be there, and they called us up the night before the meeting to say they couldn’t make it.”

Trimble eventually pulled out of the possible joint venture over concerns about the financial viability, as well as Cabela’s decision not to participate in the partnership. A link to Cabela’s “Recon Hunt” software on Cabela’s website now re-directs to a site promoting Trimble software.

At it’s peak, RDS employed fewer than 10 people, Feucht said. While the company has been awarded millions of dollars, it’s too soon to say whether or not the business could reemerge.

A trial judge review of the verdict could reduce the award amount, Trimble general counsel Jim Kirkland said in a written statement.

“All jury verdicts are subject to rigorous review by the trial judge to ensure that they are supported by the evidence at trial,” Kirdkland wrote. “That hasn’t happened yet, and rest assured we will vigorously pursue this review.”

The jury verdict has no basis in “fact or law,” Trimble said, in a statement.

Feucht and Belz intend to use some of their money — should a sizable amount make it through a likely appeals process — to set up a seed fund for Alaska-based software developers, and donate to charity Alaska’s Healing Hearts.

In the meantime, they’re celebrating what they see as a win for the little guy, Feucht said.

“This (ruling) is important for most small businesses,” he said. “There’s always the chance of getting squeezed by the big guys. This is a liability.”

“This is a really big deal not just for us but for all Alaskans,” Feucht added.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.