How to Earn Protection for Trade Secrets

September 7, 2020

World Intellectual Property Review

By E. Robert R. Yoches; Michelle G. Rice

Since the enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA), trade secret cases have increased by 30 percent, but courts have dismissed about 14 percent of those cases on the pleadings or through summary judgment. In many cases, trade-secret owners lost because they failed to show they used reasonable efforts to protect the confidentiality of their secrets.

Whether a trade secret owner’s measures to protect its secrets are reasonable depends on the facts of each case, making it impossible to identify specific actions that will ensure a company’s trade secret rights will survive dismissals, but recent cases have highlighted some pitfalls to avoid.

Read the full article here.

Originally printed in World Intellectual Property Review on September 7, 2020. This article is for informational purposes, is not intended to constitute legal advice, and may be considered advertising under applicable state laws. This article is only the opinion of the authors and is not attributable to Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, or the firm's clients.