November 26, 2012 - A federal jury in California found that Best Buy Co. misappropriated trade secrets from TechForward Inc. and violated a confidentiality agreement between the two companies. The jury ordered Best Buy to pay $22 million to TechForward for unjust enrichment.
TechForward sued Best Buy in 2011, after Best Buy ran a trial program of TechForward's Guaranteed Buyback Program in some of its stores and subsequently introduced its own buyback program - which was very similar to TechForward's. Both programs worked by offering electronics purchasers a buyback plan in which they had the option of selling the device back to the store for store credit on a sliding scale, with the amount of credit dependent on how long the customer kept the item.
The jury delivered its verdict on November 16.