Popular, Trade Secrets, Corporate Counsel

$30 Million Message: Jury Awards Substantial Punitive Damages for Trade Secret Theft

Proskauer - Trade Secrets on 7/11/2025

A nearly decade-long legal battle in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently concluded with a significant jury verdict, underscoring the potentially severe consequences of trade secret theft...more

June 2021: The Top 19 Labor And Employment Law Stories

Fisher Phillips on 7/7/2021

It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more

“Scraping” of a Publicly-Accessible Website Database May Be Misappropriation of Trade Secrets

Fish & Richardson on 7/14/2020

In a lengthy decision, the Eleventh Circuit held in Compulife v. Newman, No. 18-12004 (11th Cir. May 20, 2020), that a database may contain trade secret information even though the database contents can be accessed through a...more

Federal Judge Confirms that Federal Trade Secret Statute Applies to Misappropriation that Occurs Overseas

Mintz - Intellectual Property Viewpoints on 3/13/2020

Earlier this month, a Northern District of Illinois jury returned a verdict in favor of Motorola for over $700 million after a trial in which Motorola alleged that Hytera hired three engineers away from Motorola’s Malaysian...more

Misappropriators Beware: Motorola Court Embraces Extraterritorial Application of the Defend Trade Secrets Act

K&L Gates LLP on 3/11/2020

On March 5, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a final judgment on a jury verdict of approximately $764.6 million in a high profile trade secret misappropriation case — Motorola...more

Top 10 Developments and Headlines in Trade Secret, Non-Compete, and Computer Fraud Law for 2019 & 2020

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 2/27/2020

Continuing our annual tradition, we have compiled our top developments and headlines for 2019 & 2020 in trade secret, non-compete, and computer fraud law. Here’s what you need to know to keep abreast of the ever-changing law...more

Blockchain Litigation Year in Review (Part 1): Lessons From 2019 And What’s Ahead For 2020

Polsinelli on 2/20/2020

When is a digital asset a security or a commodity? Are SAFTs safe? Does hyping blockchain create an expectation of profit? Is blockchain a trademark, trade secret or neither? Are free tokens tax-free? Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?...more

How Safe Is That Harbor? The Impact of the Defend Trade Secrets Act's Whistleblower Immunity Provision on a Trade Secret Owner's...

Troutman Pepper Locke on 9/13/2019

Imagine that your company has just commenced an internal compliance investigation in response to an allegation that the company is violating various federal laws. The next day, a longtime employee with access to the company’s...more

Trade Secrets and Theft by Steganography: When a Picture Contains a Thousand Words

Pillsbury - Internet & Social Media Law Blog on 5/28/2019

In November 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice rolled out the China Initiative. This new policy includes plans to “identify priority Chinese trade theft cases, ensure we have enough resources dedicated to them, and … bring...more

For The First Time, A Massachusetts Court Weighs In On The New Noncompetition Agreement Act – Well, Sort Of

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 3/1/2019

As we’ve previously written about on this blog, last summer the Massachusetts legislature passed a non-compete reform bill which went into effect on October 1, 2018. ...more

Unfair Competition: What Happened in 2018, and What's in Store for 2019

Littler on 2/11/2019

From sweeping legislation to unexpected case law, and everything in between, 2018 brought a lot of changes to unfair competition law....more

Bracing For Brexit: IP Considerations To Deal With No Deal

McCarter & English, LLP on 2/11/2019

The United Kingdom is likely to exit the European Union on either March 29, 2019, or on December 31, 2020, depending on whether there is “a deal” (there’s always a chance the parties extend the negotiations or the UK revokes...more

California Appellate Panel Affirms Injunction Blocking Use Of Employee Non-Solicitation Provision In Dispute Between Travel Nurse...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 11/14/2018

On November 1, 2018, the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District affirmed a trial court’s ruling in AMN Healthcare, Inc. v. Aya Healthcare Services, Inc. et al., Case No. D071924, Cal. App (2018) which (1)...more

Ninth Circuit Confirms “No Re-Hire” Clauses Can Constitute Unlawful Restraints Of Trade In California

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/2/2018

Back in 2015, we covered the divided holding of the Ninth Circuit in Golden v. California Emergency Physicians Medical Group, that a “no re-hire” provision in a settlement agreement could constitute a restraint of trade in...more

Top 10 Things All Employers Need To Know About Autonomous Vehicles

Fisher Phillips on 10/1/2018

We’re living at a time when a unique convergence of multiple trends is ensuring that autonomous vehicles (AVs) will soon change life as we know it. On the technology side, vehicles are trending towards being electrified and...more

Massachusetts Legislature Passes Comprehensive Noncompetition and Trade-Secrets Reform

Foley & Lardner LLP on 8/9/2018

The Massachusetts General Court has passed legislation that, if signed by the governor, will comprehensively reform the law governing employee noncompetition agreements and trade-secret misappropriation. If enacted, these...more

Protecting Artificial Intelligence IP: Patents, Trade Secrets, or Copyrights?

Jones Day on 1/12/2018

The Situation: Artificial intelligence ("AI") technology is exploding across virtually all industries. Technology companies are innovating at warp speed, and even companies that do not principally identify as "technology...more

Courts Continue to Enforce Foreign Non-Competes in California While the Window for Such Agreements Slowly Closes

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group on 7/13/2017

Contrary to common perception, California employees who signed restrictive covenants prior to January 1, 2017 are not completely immune to enforcement of all restrictions on competition. For the second time in several years,...more

Don’t “Hire” A Lawsuit: A New Employee’s Misappropriation of Trade Secrets May Quickly Become Your Own

Fisher Phillips on 5/29/2017

Companies commonly assume that they will only be sued for trade secret misappropriation if they or someone from their company steal the “secret sauce” of their competitor. Not true. A far more common way that companies get...more

Federal Copyright Preemption of State Law Claims – Still a Powerful Defense Tool in Commercial Litigation

Fish & Richardson on 11/8/2016

Recently our colleagues Natalie Arbaugh and Rex Mann discussed the Fifth Circuit’s decision in GlobeRanger Corp. v. Software AG USA, Inc., 2016 WL 4698270 (5th Cir., Sept. 7, 2016), focusing on the Court’s discussion of the...more

Fifth Circuit Affirms $15 Million Trade Secret Award

Fish & Richardson on 10/14/2016

On September 7, 2016, the Fifth Circuit in GlobeRanger Corp. v. Software AG affirmed a $15 million judgment in a trade secret case. Although much of the opinion focused on jurisdictional issues, the portion of the opinion on...more

Trade Secrets: Changes In The Law On Protection Of Trade Secrets In The United States And European Union

Ladas & Parry LLP on 9/22/2016

Concerns about trade secret theft have been increasing in both the United States and Europe in recent years. Traditionally, American law disfavored trade secret protection vis à vis patenting on the basis that publication of...more

Court Dismisses Case Filed Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP on 8/11/2016

Earlier this year, we notified you about the passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) and how it affects employers. On August 8, 2016, a U. S. District Judge in the Southern District of Florida dismissed one of...more

CFAA Double Feature: Ninth Circuit Issues Two Important Decisions on the Scope of Liability Related to Data Scraping and...

Proskauer - New Media & Technology on 7/15/2016

This past week, the Ninth Circuit released two important decisions that clarify the scope of liability under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. § 1030. The Act was originally designed to target...more

A Balanced Trade Secrets Protection Regime Adopted by the EU

McGuireWoods LLP on 6/2/2016

On May 26, 2016, the Council of the EU unanimously adopted the directive on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets). The directive also provides guidelines for the protection of trade...more

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