Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

Case 3:07-cv-06198-MHP

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Filed 07/10/2008

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HOWARD RICE NEMEROVSK1 CANF.av RABKIN

GILBERT R. SEROTA (No. 75305) Email: [email protected] MARK A. SHEFT (No. 183732) Email: [email protected] MICHAEL L. GALLO (No. 220552) Email: [email protected] HOWARD RICE NEMEROVSKI CANADY FALK & RABKIN A Professional Corporation Three Embarcadero Center, 7th Floor San Francisco, California 94111-4024 Telephone: 415/434-1600 Facsimile .415/217-5910 Attorneys for Plaintiffs THOMAS WEISEL PARTNERS LLC and THOMAS WEISEL INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LIMITED UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

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THOMAS WEISEL PARTNERS LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and THOMAS WEISEL INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LIMITED, an Indian company, Plaintiffs, V. BNP PARIBAS, a French corporation, BNP PARIBAS SECURITIES (ASIA) LIMITED, a Hong Kong company, and PRAVEEN CHAKRAVARTY, an individual, Defendants.

No. C-07-6198 MHP Action Filed: December 6, 2007 DECLARATION OF DHEERAJ SONI IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' CONSOLIDATED OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS TO DISMISS THE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT Date: Time: Place: Judge: August 18, 2008 2:00p.m. Courtroom 15 Hon. Marilyn Hall Patel

SONI DECL. ISO OPP. TO DEFS.' MOT. TO DISMISS FIRST AM. COMPL. C-07-6198

Case 3:07-cv-06198-MHP

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HOWARD RICE NEMEKOVSKI CANADY FALK I & R,ABKIN

I, Dheeraj Soni, declare: 1. I am a Vice President working in IT department employed by Thomas Weisel

Partners Group. I have been employed in that position since December 2004. I am familiar with the IT infrastructure of Thomas Weisel Partners LLC ("TWP LLC") and TWP LLC's Indian subsidiary Thomas Weisel International Private Limited ("TWIPL"). I was involved in the development of the software required for generating content for Discovery Research from the very beginning of the project. I also provided support and business knowledge to the software development team in order to keep the product up and running until it was decommissioned. 2. There is substantial overlap between TWP LLC and TWIPL's IT systems.

TWIPL has no separate IT department; TWIPL's one resident IT person in Mumbai reports to TWP LLC personnel in San Francisco. The Discovery Research website was maintained and hosted by T'WP LLC in San Francisco. Although a significant portion of information pertaining to Discovery Research resided in the first instance on laptops and a server in Mumbai--which TWP LLC purchased for TWIPL's use--that information, and additional information, was also kept in San Francisco. The Mumbai server was networked into the TWP LLC system and was backed up daily to TWP LLC servers in San Francisco and/or New York. Also, emails and internet messages generated by Discovery Research personnel in Mumbai were captured and archived by TWP LLC compliance software in San Francisco. Discovery Research employees also had access through the TWP LLC network to a drive on TWP LLC's San Francisco server with confidential information about both TWIPL and Discovery Research. In addition, the software that was used by TWIPL to generate research content was maintained and enhanced by a team of consultants engaged by TWP LLC with support from developers in the San Francisco office.

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SONI DECL. ISO OPP. TO DEFS.' MOT. TO DISMISS FIRST AM. COMPL. C-07-6198 -1-

Case 3:07-cv-06198-MHP

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HOWARD RICE NEMEROVSKI CANADY FALK & RASKIN

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this ilf day · f June 2008 at San Francisco, California

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SONI DECL. ISO OPP. TO DEFS.' MOT. TO DISMISS FIRST AM. COMPL. C-07-6198

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