• by Wendy Davis , July 9, 2025

Aiming to revive its claims against Omnicom Group, the Annapolis, Maryland shop Compass Marketing on Tuesday filed an amended complaint stemming from allegations that Flywheel Digital -- the digital commerce agency Omnicom acquired from Ascential plc in late 2023 -- misappropriated Compass's trade secrets.

"On information and belief, after its purchase of Flywheel, Omnicom acquired Compass’s trade secrets from Flywheel for use in connection with Omnicom’s own offerings, and has publicly gloated of its recent successes securing work using such stolen trade secrets it unlawfully and knowingly acquired from Flywheel," Compass alleges in the amended complaint.

Compass's earlier complaint against Omnicom was dismissed two weeks ago by Anne Arundel County Judge Robert Thompson. That dismissal was without prejudice, enabling Compass to revise its allegations.

The new filing comes in a state court case dating to March 2023, when Compass sued Flywheel, Ascential (which acquired Flywheel in 2018), and former Compass Marketing executives, over the alleged theft of trade secrets. (Compass filed a similar suit against Flywheel and some executives in federal court in 2022, but that matter was dismissed in 2023 on the grounds that the claims were outside the statute of limitations.)

In January, Compass added Omnicom as a defendant in the case, alleging that Omnicom had "actual or constructive knowledge that it acquired Compass’s stolen trade secrets and confidential information through its acquisition of Flywheel," and that Omnicom "continues to leverage such misappropriated trade secrets and confidential information."

Omnicom urged Judge Robert Thompson to dismiss the complaint at an early stage of the proceedings, arguing both that a Maryland court lacked jurisdiction over Omnicom, and that the allegations in the complaint were too conclusory to warrant further proceedings.

Thompson threw out the claims against Omnicom without prejudice after a hearing late last month, but allowed Compass to proceed with claims against several other defendants, including Flywheel and Ascential.