Aerospace company accuses digital library service of housing trade secrets

Honeywell Aerospace claims the information shared on Scribd is especially sensitive because it concerns air safety.WILMINGTON, Del. (CN) — A global aerospace and defense supplier sued Scribd Monday, accusing the digital library service of knowingly disseminating trade secrets.Honeywell Aerospace accuses Scribd, a digital document library where users have uploaded over 300 million files, of hosting and distributing highly sensitive technical publications and manuals in violation of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act and the Delaware Uniform Trade Secrets Act. According to Honeywell Aerospace, the manuals include technical information on the maintenance, installation and operation of its products, including aircraft engines, auxiliary power units, flight data recorders and traffic collision avoidance systems.“Because the manuals are replete with highly technical engineering specifications and instructions intended for the safe maintenance and repair of aircraft components, Scribd’s irresponsible public dissemination of these documents poses risks not only to the rightful owner of the trade secrets therein (i.e., Honeywell Aerospace), but to the millions of people in the United States alone who take to the air on more than 44,000 flights each day,” the aerospace and defense provider said in its complaint.Honeywell Aerospace seeks an injunction prohibiting Scribd from displaying the manuals and an order requiring it to remove any manuals currently uploaded.According to the plaintiff, Scribd uses no safeguards to prevent the publication of trade secrets and does not check the accuracy of information uploaded to its library. The manuals explicitly state their content is confidential. Honeywell Aerospace claims many of the manuals remain in Scribd’s library despite a request for removal in August.“This failure ultimately undermines the safety and integrity of critical aviation operations,” Honeywell Aerospace said. “Manuals obtained from Scribd create a real safety risk of introducing uncontrolled, unverified technical data into the repair and safety of flight environment.”According to Honeywell Aerospace, the documents housed on Scribd give users the information they need to attempt to manufacture its parts outside the Federal Aviation Administration’s approved system. The threat is more than hypothetical, the plaintiff argues, citing a 2023 Federal Aviation Administration notification warning a United Kingdom company, AOG Technics, manufactured General Electric Company bushing parts.“Scribd’s continued, unrestricted hosting of the manuals introduces this precise category of risk to Honeywell Aerospace’s own products because it makes available to any person and without qualification exactly the technical information necessary to perform unauthorized manufacture or repair,” the plaintiff said. “A repair shop or aircraft owner relying on an uncontrolled copy obtained from Scribd has no reliable means to confirm that the manual is complete, accurate and current.”Scribd representatives did not respond to a request for comment, but Honeywell Aerospace claims the company refused to prevent future distribution of the trade secrets when asked. Honeywell Aerospace also clarified that Scribd moderates content published on its website, rather than passively hosting it.“Scribd posts most of the user-uploaded documents submitted to its platform but filters out a subset of documents that fail to meet certain requirements,” the plaintiff said. “Because Scribd screens uploaded documents before making them available, Scribd knew or should have known that the manuals—which bear express confidentiality and proprietary legends—constituted Honeywell Aerospace’s trade secrets.”Honeywell Aerospace also accuses Scribd of using its manuals to produce AI-written summaries.Honeywell Aerospace claims Scribd regularly allows users to upload personally identifiable information. According to a Medium article, users can access documents for free if they upload five of their own documents. Research by Umair Nehri and Saumyajeet Das, published by Medium, shows Scribd housed over 2,000 bank statements, over 1,400 income tax returns and 1,304 passports in 2025. The plaintiff seeks an order requiring Scribd to implement measures designed to prevent renewed uploads of the manuals.“Scribd’s dissemination of Honeywell Aerospace’s confidential materials reflects a broader problem with sensitive documents it makes publicly accessible,” the plaintiff said.The plaintiff also wants the identities of the third-party companies that used Scribd to access the manuals, along with monetary damages. Honeywell Aerospace representatives did not respond to a request for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads