Synygy Files Lawsuit Against ZS Associates for Copyright Infringement and Misappropriation of Intellectual Property

The complaint, filed in the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania, alleges that ZS Associates and its affiliate, ZS Associates International, knowingly and improperly copied and misappropriated components of Synygy’s sales compensation software and other intellectual property, and in addition, intentionally hired former Synygy employees, despite knowing about the existence of their non-compete agreements with Synygy, to gain access to confidential information acquired during their tenure with Synygy.

Synygy seeks relief including:

• judgment that ZS infringed Synygy’s copyrights
• injunction that prohibits ZS from continued use of Synygy’s software and other intellectual property
• injunction from luring and/or hiring employees of Synygy or its affiliates
• judgment for actual and compensatory damages for loss of revenue, profit, and company valuation
• punitive damages for acts of willful infringement

“Synygy created the market for sales compensation management (SCM) software and services more than 18 years ago,” said Mark A. Stiffler, Synygy president and CEO. “We have invested many years and a lot of money in product development, which led to Synygy creating the SCM software that has propelled our success year after year. Our intellectual property is a very valuable asset and we are firmly committed to protecting it,” he said.

“The lawsuit we filed today contends that ZS knowingly copied our software and other confidential information with the intent to use our intellectual property in direct competition with us. Our position is that ZS continues to use our software and other confidential information, causing us to lose substantial revenue, profit, and company valuation, while they profit from its use,” continued Stiffler. “There is no way we can fully recover what we have lost from what we contend was deliberate and malicious misconduct, but we urge the Court to restrain ZS from continuing to infringe on our intellectual property and to award Synygy damages as the Court deems appropriate.”

About Synygy
 
Synygy is the largest and most experienced provider of sales performance management (SPM) software and services. Synygy’s SPM solutions include: sales compensation (incentive compensation, rewards and recognition, and total compensation); sales communications (web portals, reports and dashboards, and analytics, alerts, and answers); sales goals (territories and channels, forecasting and pipeline analyses, and objectives and quotas); and sales processes (reviews, recruiting and training, data repository and data processes, and workflow processes). Based in Chester, Pennsylvania, with extensive operations in Europe and Asia, Synygy has achieved 18 continuous years of success. www.synygy.com