PurchasePro fires back, calls claims ‘meritless’

Kevin Ferguson

Wednesday, March 28, 2001 | 11:08 a.m.

Las Vegas Internet purchasing company PurchasePro has filed its formal legal response to a lawsuit accusing it of stealing corporate secrets from a defunct local company.

All Creative Technologies, which ceased operations in January 1996, also named PurchasePro Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Johnson Jr. and Ranel Erickson, a former PurchasePro executive, as defendants in the February lawsuit.

PurchasePro said the charges are "completely without merit," and continues to attack the lawsuit by pointing to the criminal activity of All Creative's controlling shareholder Russell Craig Pike.

"PurchasePro will demonstrate... these allegations are false and that no trade secrets were taken from All Creative Technologies after it ceased operations," PurchasePro's court documents state.

Pike is in the midst of serving a 59-month prison sentence at the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp near Nellis Air Force Base. His release is set for Oct. 27, 2003, prison officials said.

Pike was indicted for six counts of money laundering and bank fraud on the allegation that he had taken $2 million borrowed by Advanced Cart Technologies, the parent company of All Creative, for gambling activities.

All Creative Technologies, which had been defunct for five years, was resurrected Jan. 19 by Pike and former investors for the purpose of filing the lawsuit.

All Creative's lawyer Randall Jones could not be reached for comment.

All Creative's suit claims its business plan to create marketplaces for businesses in the hotel/gaming industry to buy and sell products in cyberspace was stolen in 1996 by PurchasePro executives.

The alleged stolen trade secrets are listed as All Creative Technologies computer research, software, coding, data, business plan and financial records, court documents state.

PurchasePro denies those charges, stating that Erickson began work on the PurchasePro software program while he was a professor at UNLV.

The professor taught computer programming and created the PurchasePro program from scratch at the end of 1996, which was after All Creative Technologies ceased operations, PurchasePro's court documents state.

PurchasePro states that its technology was not derived from All Creative's CD-ROM-based cybermall concept, which Pike was trying to develop.

All Creative's suit says Johnson was a former All Creative shareholder and the company's former vice president of corporate development.

PurchasePro's lawyers were unavailable Tuesday to comment on Johnson's association with All Creative Technologies.

"We have said that Mr. Johnson was an investor in All Creative Technologies and he lost his entire investment,"said Steve Stern, PurchasePro's vice president or corporate communications.

All Creative also alleges in its suit that Erickson served as its chief technology officer, and further alleges Johnson asked Erickson to "replicate and expand certain confidential computer system and software designs" to operate a website that would allow businesses to cater to other businesses.

PurchasePro, in its motion-to-dismiss document, denies that Erickson was ever an employee, officer or director of All Creative Technologies or of Advanced Cart Technologies.

"(Erickson) performed work for ACT ACCESS (All Creative Technologies) as an employee of his own company, Multi Span Productions, under a contract between his company and ACT ACCESS," PurchasePro's court papers state.

"The contract protected my rights to my work," Erickson stated in a court document.