In a case that alleges brazen industrial espionage, biopharmaceutical firm Baxter Healthcare Corp. claimed that an ex-employee stole computer files containing key drug manufacturing secrets in order to give them to his new employer in Berkeley -- Baxter's direct competitor.

Baxter sued the competitor, Bayer Corp., as well as the former Baxter researcher, Danville resident Gopal Dasari, in a federal complaint for computer fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets filed in San Francisco on Monday.

The company accused Dasari, an employee for six years at Baxter's Southern California research centers, of copying hundreds of sensitive and confidential files onto compact discs just before he left for his new job at Bayer in late May. Bayer Corp., a U.S. unit of the international health care group Bayer AG of Germany, has a biological products manufacturing plant in Berkeley where Dasari worked.

The computer files he is accused of taking contained data on five of Baxter's leading products for serious disorders, including hemophilia, cancer and kidney disease. The records also included unpublished information about compounds in Baxter's experimental pipeline, according to the complaint.

Baxter's attorney, Michael Wexler, said the FBI found some of Baxter's electronic records when agents searched two locations, one in Walnut Creek and another in Calabasas (Los Angeles County), near Thousand Oaks (Ventura County),

last week.

"Certain files were located by the FBI in Mr. Dasari's apparent possession, " Wexler said. Dasari has a home in Calabasas near his former Baxter work location in Thousand Oaks, according to the Baxter complaint. The Walnut Creek location is a residential center for corporate employees, Wexler said.

Baxter, based in Deerfield, Ill., is asking a federal judge in San Francisco to order Dasari to turn over any copies of the allegedly stolen files, and to force Bayer to surrender any discs, computers or hard drives Dasari could access while he worked at Bayer. The suit claims that Bayer "threatens to use Baxter's confidential information to unfairly compete with Baxter," but does not detail the form of the alleged threat. A hearing is set for Friday.

Bayer spokeswoman Tricia McKernan denied any company wrongdoing.

"We deny being in receipt of any of the information in question or having any interest in it," she said. "Our policy expressly prohibits any employee from using confidential information obtained during employment prior to Bayer."

Dasari has an unlisted phone number in Danville, and his voice mail message at Bayer's Berkeley unit states, "I'm on personal leave." He could not be reached for comment.

Wexler said Baxter contacted the FBI after a tech support staffer told executives on June 13 that Dasari had duped him into helping copy the files onto discs. Asked if Baxter had made a criminal complaint against Dasari, Wexler said, "We are cooperating fully in an investigation of our former employee." Wexler said both the FBI and federal prosecutors are involved.

C. Don Clay, first assistant U.S. attorney at the federal prosecutor's office in San Francisco, said he could not comment on the case or confirm that an investigation is ongoing.

Dasari allegedly signed an agreement as a condition of his employment with Baxter to keep confidential information out of the hands of competitors and to refrain from working for a competitor for a year after leaving Baxter.

Baxter representatives could not name a dollar amount in damages the company would suffer if the secret files were made available to Bayer or other competitors. Baxter's hemophilia treatment Recombinate brings in $1 billion a year in revenue, Wexler said, and competes directly with a Bayer product.

"We will pursue anyone or any organization that tries to exploit or misappropriate Baxter property," Wexler said.

In its federal civil suit filed Monday, Baxter is seeking damages for its actual losses, plus punitive damages and triple damages under California's trade secrets statute.