Australian accused of downloading company secrets

Jason Bodsworth of Melbourne claims he backed up the contents of his work-issued laptop onto his home computer in case it crashed. His former employer, Portal Software International (PSI) took him to court and accused him of giving Telstra and current employer Amdocs inside information regarding the deal.

According to New South Wales supreme court judge Robert White, there was a "real threat" that Bodsworth would use the trade secrets in his dealings with Telstra which could jeopardise PSI's attempt to win new contracts worth nearly $400 million.

The trade secrets deal with PSI's bid for part of a project to overhaul Telstra's billing system. PSI is competing with Amdocs for the work. According to the Australian newspaper, Bodsworth has been ordered not to contact, visit or deal with Telstra for six months because his former employee accused him of passing inside information on the deal.

Bodsworth was found to have downloaded confidential data on Telstra's plan to decommission its billing system onto his home computer.

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