Case Explained: ARKEYO LLC v. SAGGEZZA, INC

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Filed: 2026-07-30 The seventh-circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Saggezza, Inc., and its denial of Arkeyo LLC’s motions for spoliation sanctions, reconsideration, and relief from judgment, as well as the award of attorney’s fees to Saggezza. The court held that Arkeyo failed to establish liability under any of its claims. For copyright infringement, the court found no evidence of copying, rejecting Arkeyo’s argument that superficial similarities between the software allowed for an inference of copying given fundamental differences in code and development approaches. Regarding trade secret misappropriation under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, the court ruled that the source code was not protected because it had been publicly disclosed online, and other alleged secrets were either readily ascertainable to users or too generic to qualify as concrete trade secrets. On tortious interference, the court applied Illinois law to determine that Saggezza’s competitive conduct did not involve wrongful means, particularly since the underlying intellectual property claims lacked merit. For conversion, the court noted that Arkeyo lacked an immediate right to possess the touchscreen computer, which was owned by Metro Bank, and failed to make a pre-suit demand for its return. The court also affirmed the denial of spoliation sanctions because Arkeyo’s claims were based on speculation rather than evidence that Saggezza destroyed existing evidence. Finally, the court upheld the attorney’s fees awarded under 17 U.S.C. § 505, citing the strong presumption in favor of fee-shifting for prevailing defendants against objectively baseless copyright claims. The practical consequence is that Arkeyo’s lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice and it must pay Saggezza’s legal costs. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.