Fintech company MyCard Inc. dba as Knot filed an interesting and sprawling lawsuit against a competitor, Atomic F1.  Of particular interest is the allegation that MyCard has caught Atomic F1 redhanded in copying MyCard's source code. Featured front and center in their complaint is the evidence showing a string of code that MyCard says was planted as a “honeypot” and that this string of code serves no functional purpose. MyCard alleges the same “honeypot” can be found in Atomic's source code. That will certainly be very difficult for Atomic F1 to explain, unless they can show that string code can be found in other source code bases, such as something that is open-sourced.

One of the interesting subtexts to all this is how Atomic F1 got their hands on the source code. That part of the story has yet to be revealed, but it could certainly put more context on Atomic F1's acts.  On the other hand, it will be interesting to know if Atomic F1 is going to defend itself in part by alleging that MyCard did not exercise reasonable care in protecting the secrecy of its source code.  A trade secret holder has the obligation to exercise reasonable care to protect the secrecy of its trade secrets, and that is a frequent defense raised by the accused defendant.

Financial technology company MyCard Inc. has filed a suit against rival Atomic FI Inc. in Delaware federal court alleging MyCard has uncovered direct evidence that the competitor copied proprietary software after planting a hidden "honeypot" string in MyCard's code.

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