Twist Biosciences and Agilent Settle Dispute, Avoid Costly Trial

A trial to resolve Agilent's (NYSE: A) dispute with biotech company Twist Biosciences (NASDAQ: TWST) won't begin on Feb. 24 after all. Instead, Twist is paying $22.5 million to settle -- without admission of wrongdoing -- litigation alleging breach of contract, breach of duty of loyalty, and alleged misappropriation of trade secrets by Twist's management, including CEO and co-founder Emily Leproust, a former Agilent employee.

Specifically, Agilent alleged Leproust used confidential information "relating to Agilent's oligonucleotide synthesis technology to develop Twist's technology and identify personnel to hire from Agilent," according to Twist's annual 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Furthermore, Agilent alleged Leproust "withheld strategic business and technological plans from Agilent and diverted those plans to Twist instead," and "violated her contractual obligations under her employment agreement with Agilent, including by failing to disclose the aforementioned plans and by soliciting one or more Agilent employees to terminate their employment within two years of her resignation."

Source Fool.com