(Bloomberg) -- Jane Street Group was spared for now from having to share trade secrets with former traders it sued after they left for a rival firm.

US District Judge Paul Engelmayer on Thursday said Jane Street does not need to share a court-ordered disclosure with former traders Douglas Schadewald and Daniel Spottiswood and Millennium Management. Instead, the firm can temporarily make it available only to the court and outside lawyers.

Jane Street sued Schadewald, Spottiswood and Millennium last month, claiming the two traders took an “immensely valuable” confidential trading strategy to their new jobs at Izzy Englander’s hedge fund group. The defendants deny there are any secrets at issue, and the judge last week expressed skepticism as well. 

Engelmayer gave Jane Street a hard May 23 deadline to “put up” with specificity the secrets it claims were stolen. Details about the strategy were heavily redacted in Jane Street’s original suit, but it emerged at an April 19 hearing that it involved options trading in India. 

In a Wednesday letter to Engelmayer, Jane Street’s lawyer, Deborah Brown, said allowing the opposing parties to view its trade secrets in a court filing would be “devastating” to the proprietary trading firm, given that they are direct competitors.

Competing Right Now

“Mr. Schadewald and Mr. Spottiswood are actively competing with Jane Street by trading in the India market right now,” Brown wrote, adding, “If anything, such disclosure only risks further — and perhaps even more efficient — misappropriation.” 

Jane Street initially sought an order blocking the defendants from using the strategy, but Engelmayer denied that request. It’s now seeking damages.

Millennium and the two traders have countersued, asking the court to declare no trade secrets were stolen and ordering Jane Street to pay their costs. Millennium said in its suit that it had been trading in the Indian market for years. Schadewald and Spottiswood claimed credit for building the Indian options business at Jane Street but said it was based on their experience and expertise rather than any secret “algorithms or automated signals.”

Lawyers for Millennium, Schadewald and Spottiswood opposed Jane Street’s request to block them from viewing its disclosure, saying it “serves no legitimate purpose” and impinges on their ability to defend the case. 

Jane Street’s victory on the issue may be short-lived. In his Thursday order, Engelmayer said he was granting Jane Street’s request “solely to enable this litigation to move forward without delay” while he was busy on another case. The judge said he expected a more final protective order would give defendants some access to the secrets they’re alleged to have stolen.

The case is Jane Street Group LLC v. Millennium Management LLC, 24-cv-02783, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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