The State of Israel has submitted a lawsuit at the Tel Aviv District Court against Dr. Amir Arav, who served as a scientist for the state-owned Agricultural Research Organization (Volcani Center); biotech entrepreneur Professor Shlomo Ben-Haim; and companies that they own. The state is claiming damages of up to 40 million shekels (about $10 million) for the alleged theft of valuable technology, which is used to freeze biological samples such as cells, tissue and entire organs and which was developed by Dr. Arav within the framework of his work for the Volcani Center. The state, represented by attorney Liad Vetschtein of the law firm Dr. Shlomo Cohen & Company, and attorney Dikla Shalev Amsalem from the claims unit of the State Prosecutor's Office, says that Dr. Arav, for all intents and purposes, led a "double life." While Arav was working as a senior researcher at the Volcani Center, he created and founded other companies based on the technology he developed within the framework of his job and served as chief science officer at these companies throughout their various stages of existence. The state also argues that the companies created by Dr. Arav submitted patent claims for the inventions he developed while working for the state. According to the state, in 2004 Professor Ben-Haim partnered with Arav as an investor, while being cognizant of the fact that the new companies were based on technology that Dr. Arav stole from the Volcani Center, willfully participated in acts described in the lawsuit and even initiated some of the alleged offenses. The state also claims that it needed to invest great effort into unraveling the immense web woven by the defendants used to hide the technology theft and to smuggle it to the companies they created. Dr. Arav has already been convicted in a peremptory ruling by a Civil Service Disciplinary Court for acts constituting a conflict of interests and breach of loyalty.
State seeks to freeze biotech theft, sues scientists for NIS 40 million
Dr. Amir Arav, who served as a scientist for state-owned Volcani Center, is claimed to have used technology he developed while working for the state in private companies he created with biotech entrepreneur Professor Shlomo Ben-Haim.
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