Trade Secrets

Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California handed down a strongly worded order denying a motion to seal alleged trade secret information, and sanctioning counsel for defendant for the frivolous request. The order is a stern reminder to the sanctioned attorneys and to trade secret litigants in federal ... Read More

How can we provide trade secret protection in fast-growing industries where employees often leave to work for the competition? How does someone take his or her accumulated experience to a competitor without getting sued? And from another perspective, how do you hire someone with experience and skill, to make sure ... Read More

Plaintiffs in New York state trade secret actions face a new limitation on their damages claims, according to a May 3, 2018 decision from the state’s Court of Appeals.  The 4-3 opinion settles a split in New York state case law.  Going forward, compensatory damages for trade secrets misappropriation are ... Read More

On March 30, 2018, in Sandvig v. Sessions, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allowed one of several constitutional challenges to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to survive a motion to dismiss.  In doing so, the district court highlighted and analyzed the split between circuits in ... Read More

On May 3, 2018, the New York Court of Appeals held that data copied onto a server constitutes a tangible reproduction for purposes of liability under the New York Penal Code, marking the end of Sergey Aleynikov’s nine year battle with federal and state prosecutors.  Trade Secrets Watch has kept ... Read More

As widely reported, on April 20, the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”) kicked off a twelve count lawsuit against a number of entities and individuals, including the Russian Federation, General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (“GRU”), WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Donald J. Trump, Jr., and other political foes.  ... Read More

What would you think if I told you that anyone from France or China or Brazil that was just thinking about some legal action in their country could come here and easily force discovery from a U.S. company, even though they couldn’t dream of getting the same information through their ... Read More

Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Hassel v. Bird, a case we’ve discussed previously because it involves critical issues related to anonymous online speech and trade secrets protection. As promised, we’ll have more coverage once the court renders its decision. In the meantime, take a ... Read More

Intellectual property (IP) often represents one of the largest asset classes that a company holds, and unlocking its value is a key element in any business sale. The value of intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, brands, databases, and trade secrets, can be valued using a number of methodologies. But ... Read More

In 2013, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents caught researchers attempting to smuggle a $75 million trade secret from the United States to China.  Unlike the trade secrets we usually discuss, the trade secrets in tow were rice seeds.  But not just any rice seeds:  these valuable seeds were genetically ... Read More

With the June 9 deadline for national implementation fast approaching, we surveyed colleagues in our other European offices to check the state of play in their jurisdiction. The picture which emerged was mixed. Much progress has been made towards national implementation of the Directive in the UK, Italy, France, The ... Read More

It’s a date! Or a dating app, at least. Texas courts are ablaze with competing allegations from online dating companies Match and Bumble that each has misappropriated the other’s trade secrets. Swipe right (or up) to learn more. Match Group LLC, which owns the Tinder dating app, ignited the dispute ... Read More

Trade Secrets Watch previously had its eye on the U.S. Trade Representative’s investigation on China’s alleged IP theft under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. As an update, late last month, President Trump announced the imposition of tariffs on as much as $60 billion worth of Chinese goods ... Read More

Today, the biggest reason to have a strict regime in place to protect trade secrets, according to Gambhir, is because technology has made misappropriation of trade secrets so much easier than ever before. Compare the days when trade secrets resided in physical forms (blue prints, coca cola formula etc.) and ... Read More

In January of this year, Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Sinovel Wind Group Co. Ltd. was convicted of stealing trade secrets from U.S. company AMSC Inc. The theft caused AMSC, more than $800 million in losses and forced the company to lay off more than half its global work force. Sinovel’s ... Read More

On Tuesday, April 3, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments in Hassel v. Bird.  Case No. S235968.  While seemingly a defamation case, it has direct implications on trade secrets owners and the rights of internet publishers. In that case, a lawyer, Dawn Hassell, sued her former client, Ava Bird, ... Read More

Dallas, TX-based online dating app developer Match Group filed a suit in the Western District of Texas alleging claims of utility and design patent infringement, trademark infringement, and trade secret misappropriation against Austin, TX-based dating app provider Bumble. Match alleges that Bumble, which was founded by former employees of Match’s ... Read More

The lawsuit between Swarmify and Cloudflare recently produced an Order in which U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup denied Swarmify’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and also offers a cautionary tale about what activities might result in bloggers being hauled into Court. In 2016, Swarmify, a start-up focused on affordable ... Read More

Modern discovery can be quite disruptive and expensive. Recognizing that there is a particular danger of abuse in trade secret cases, where defendants are often individuals or vulnerable start-ups, courts long ago began to manage this risk by requiring plaintiffs to identify the relevant secrets with “reasonable particularity.” In 1985, ... Read More

Last week, multinational mining giant Rio Tinto asked a federal court in Manhattan to shield its document disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from the public eye. Unlike the typical cases we discuss involving former employees working for competitors, Rio Tinto is defending against fraud claims brought by ... Read More

The law in California is well settled that, with few exceptions, non-compete agreements are unenforceable.  Less clear is whether and to what extent employee non-solicitation and no-hire agreements can withstand a court’s scrutiny.  These types of agreements often exist between employers and employees, as well as between employers themselves.  And ... Read More

. By Richard Stobbe As noted in Part 1, IP rights in the fashion and apparel industry are fiercely contested. Fashion products can be protected in Canada using a number of different IP tools, including: confidential information patents industrial design or “design patent” trademarks trade dress copyright personality rights. For ... Read More

How big of a role does IP play in Silicon Valley deals? “In almost any size transaction involving a technology company, our client asks us to look carefully at the company’s IP and the agreements the company has entered into with third parties to secure rights in IP and to ... Read More

In every trade secrets case, the plaintiff faces the same fundamental dilemma:  In order to enforce their rights in court, they must identify (at least to some degree) the trade secrets at issue. Although California has adopted a reasonable particularity requirement by statute, how much detail plaintiffs must provide when ... Read More

There are many lessons to be drawn from the Waymo v. Uber litigation. This is perhaps the most important. Lawsuits are about history, while business is about the future... Most trade secret litigation is fueled by emotional reactions to perceived wrongs. Plaintiffs feel betrayed and abandoned, and defendants feel blamed ... Read More

Cryptocurrency has dominated the attention of the financial world for most of the past 12 months as Bitcoin’s value (as well as other cryptocurrencies’) soared over 1,500% in 2017 (though it has experienced some recent volatility).  While investors are happy to see their wallets growing, companies should be excited about ... Read More

Although the amount of the settlement was far less than $2.7 billion in amount sought by Waymo, the settlement apparently did include a payment from Uber of 0.34% of Uber equity—or about $244.8 million in stock based on a $72 billion valuation of Uber... Both sides had a lot riding ... Read More

The decision whether to secure technology using a trade secret or a patent hinges as much on the technology as it does on access to capital. Small companies need funding to commercialize new inventions. A patent provides a private property right that can be leveraged to attract funding. However, most ... Read More

Earlier today Alphabet subsidiary Waymo settled with Uber in the midst of a trade secret infringement trial. This lawsuit originated when Waymo brought suit against Uber in 2017, alleging that a former Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski, who was hired by Uber to lead Uber's self-driving car project, took with him ... Read More

Self-driving cars—once a thing of the future—are now becoming a reality. And, as with any new technology, there is a learning curve. Once consumers are able to test out new products, they adapt, preferences change, and what once seemed absurd or over-the-top becomes commonplace. Manufacturers then face perhaps an even ... Read More