Zynga settles lawsuit over former GM's alleged theft of trade secrets

Zynga has settled its lawsuit against a former employee over his alleged theft of trade secrets, reports TechCrunch.

Alan Patmore was the general manager of CityVille until he left Zynga for social gaming rival Kixeye last August. According to Zynga's complaint, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court last October, Patmore allegedly took more than 760 confidential documents regarding the company's games and copied them into his personal Dropbox. The data is said to have included information on more than 10 unreleased games. Zynga later added Kixeye as a defendant to the suit.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Patmore apologized for his actions in a statement released by Zynga, saying, "I accept responsibility for making a serious mistake by copying and taking Zynga confidential information when I resigned from Zynga. I understand the consequences of my actions and I sincerely apologize to Zynga and my former colleagues."

In addition, Zynga and Kixeye announced a "mutually agreeable settlement of their litigation involving Alan Patmore." Kixeye had filed a cross-complaint last November in which it accused Zynga of "fabricating claims" against Kixeye.