AtPac, a technology company that moved to Auburn from Grass Valley in November, is suing Nevada County over what it describes as unauthorized disclosure of proprietary information.

The company, which provides records imaging and other document software programs to state and local governments, also named Aptitude Solutions, Inc., the Florida company that replaced AtPac in providing the services to the county in 2008, and Nevada County clerk-recorder Gregory J. Diaz in the federal suit.

AtPac, which had contracted with Nevada County since 1999, states in the lawsuit that Diaz, Nevada County and Aptitude “accessed, copied and used AtPac’s trade secret information and copyrighted software.” It also alleges the county provided Aptitude Solutions with direct and unfettered access to AtPac’s software and source code, and that county employees posted AtPac’s trade secret information on copyrighted screen shots on a publicly available “docushare” site.

Nevada County Counsel Michael Jamison said Tuesday that he has received a copy of the complaint but is not ready to discuss it or what the facts may be.

“The only thing I can say with some high degree of certainty is it arises out of the transition of one provider of software to another provider of software, and the county’s extraction of data out of the previous program, which we needed to do in order to be able to access, retrieve and copy public records,” Jamison said.

Sacramento law firm Downey Brand LLP is representing AtPac.

“We absolutely believe there was probable cause to bring this lawsuit,” Downy Brand attorney Michael Thomas said Tuesday.

The lawsuit does not specifically state what AtPac is seeking.

The court’s discovery process will ascertain the damages and identify appropriate relief, Thomas said.

Diaz spoke briefly this week about the county’s relationship with AtPac, saying that shortly after he was appointed to the job in June 2007, he met with the company president and CEO.

“It was a good way to introduce myself,” he said. “(I told them,) it’s a new day, a new chapter. I am the clerk recorder and with any issues, you talk to me. Thirteen months later, I received (a) termination letter.”

Minutes of the Nov. 18, 2008 Board of Supervisors meeting, which included the Aptitude Solutions contract approval item on the agenda, discusses an explanation for AtPac’s termination request.

During the public comment period, then-AtPac attorney Barry Pruett states that AtPac discovered on July 31 that a Request for Proposal had been issued on July 17 (to several other firms). “AtPac immediately entered into negotiations with the Recorder’s Office to either terminate the contract with the county or extend the deadline. … AtPac contends the Clerk Recorder’s Office had no intent of awarding the contract to AtPac, or any other bidder, and that the Recorder communicated exclusively with Aptitude Solutions over the past 16 months,” the minutes say.

According to the document, the county’s explanation was that it was not intentional, but a Purchasing Department error that caused AtPac to be left off the initial request for proposal offering.

Following the public comment period, then-Nevada County Supervisor Sue Horne asked if it was “a fair assumption to make that there is not a good working relationship existing with the present vendor (AtPac)?“ to which Diaz concurred.

Following public comment and board discussion session, the supervisors unanimously approved a $229,428 software contract with Aptitude Solutions

In his request to the board for approval of the new contract, Diaz described Aptitude’s system as better suited to the county’s needs.

“The current core system does not automate many document-handling processes compared to newer systems,” Diaz said in the memo. “The manual document handling processes are time-consuming and do not lend to efficient and effective time management of staff and the fluctuating legal mandates or demands of document processing. … The changes can be made to improve document handling, but at high cost to Nevada County. AtPac will charge the county for each change to existing system functions whereas the new systems are available at lower costs and offered as core services on new systems.”

Diaz said this week that Aptitude Solutions’ program is totally self-contained, where AtPac’s required the county to contract with third parties to accomplish some legislative mandates.

“For example, there’s a law stating we have to redact the first five digits of Social Security numbers,” he said. …. “With AtPac, we would have had to contract with a third party to accomplish that mandate. Ultimately, I don’t want to be dealing with three or five (parties).”

AtPac, which is located at the Auburn Airport Industrial Park, provides imaging information and other software programs to 18 other California counties, including Placer.

Thomas said the next step in the process is that the defendants are required to respond to the complaint in court. and the case will then proceed into the discovery process.

Gloria Young can be reached at gloriay@goldcountrymedia.com.