A federal judge in Chicago recently held that an individual can be convicted of attempting to steal a trade secret, even if the information at issue did not actually constitute a trade secret, so long as the individual believed that the information was a trade secret.
I’m pleased to present the 2019 update to our “Trade Secrets Litigation” Practice Note, published by Thomson Reuters Practical Law. My co-author Zachary Jackson and I discuss litigation for employers whose employees have misappropriated trade secrets.
See below to download it in PDF format—following is an excerpt:
Plaintiff Art & Cook, Inc., a cookware and kitchenware company, brought suit in New York federal court against a former salesperson, Abraham Haber, when a search of his work computer revealed that he had emailed to his personal email account two categories of documents alleged by Art & Cook to be trade secrets: (i) its
California has always been a challenging jurisdiction for employers in terms of limiting unfair competition by former employees and protecting trade secrets. However, employers in the state can significantly enhance their ability to protect their business interests in these areas with a little planning and strategic thinking.
In this issue of Take 5, we
Whether you are a young child missing teeth, or a grown-up taking account of her life, or Santa Claus himself checking up on everyone else’s life, many of us make lists at holiday time. They can be lists of gifts we want, or those we need to get, or people we wish to see or
In a question of first impression, the Illinois Appellate Court recently addressed what constitutes “bad faith” for purposes of awarding attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party under §5 of the Illinois Trade Secret Act (ITSA). That section provides, in pertinent part, that if “a claim of [trade secret] misappropriation is made in bad faith” or
On April 29, 2014, Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced a bill which seeks to create a private right of action under federal law for theft of trade secrets. As noted in the press release accompanying the bill, the so-called “Defend Trade Secrets Act would empower companies to protect their trade secrets in federal court.”
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In what turned out to be a disastrous result for defendants, a Massachusetts Court issued a default judgment against certain salespeople who left their former company to form the new competing company. The default judgment was based on the defendants’ conduct during the discovery phase of the case, in which they failed to follow the terms of the Court’s Preliminary Injunction, including misrepresenting their compliance to the Court, destroying evidence, and using confidential information to sell products to certain businesses, all of which was specifically barred by the terms of the Court’s Order.
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In a March 5, 2014 verdict, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco secured the first-ever federal jury conviction on charges brought under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996.
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A recent federal court decision in California illustrates the care that plaintiffs should take when pleading their own claims in trade secrets cases, lest they provide defendants a ready basis for dismissal.
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