Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Crown Point, IN – Plaintiff Cloudbusters, Inc., a technology company based in Indiana, has filed a lawsuit against multiple parties including a former employee and two Florida-based businesses. The company is alleging theft of trade secrets, breach of contract, and other related claims.
According to the complaint, Cloudbusters accuses its former IT manager, Ryan Tinsley, and the companies Practice42, LLC and The Law Office of Audrey Ehrhardt, PLLC, of orchestrating a plan to take confidential business information for their own benefit.
Cloudbusters states that it had hired Tinsley in 2023 and promoted him to IT Manager, a role in which he had access to sensitive company data, including cybersecurity systems, customer lists, and proprietary tools. The company says Tinsley signed both non-compete and non-disclosure agreements during his employment.
In 2024, Cloudbusters began working with Practice42 and Ehrhardt’s law firm to provide IT and cybersecurity services. The partnership was formalized through contracts and joint business discussions, with Tinsley playing a key role in managing IT services for the Florida firms.
However, the lawsuit claims that in early 2025, Tinsley and the other defendants secretly planned to cut Cloudbusters out of the arrangement. Cloudbusters alleges Tinsley began acting as Practice42’s IT Manager while still employed with Cloudbusters, and later transferred confidential data, blocked access to systems, and resigned abruptly in February 2025. The company also claims he started his own business shortly afterward.
In its filing, Cloudbusters accuses the defendants of misappropriating trade secrets under federal and Indiana state law, breaching various contracts, and intentionally interfering with existing business relationships. The complaint also includes allegations of civil conspiracy, unauthorized access to computer systems, and breaches of fiduciary duty.
Cloudbusters is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as legal fees and a jury trial.
The case has been assigned to Judge Gretchen S. Lund and Magistrate Judge Abizer Zanzi in the U.S. District Court of Northern Indiana Case No. 2:25-cv-00208.