Back in March, 2017, we posted about a civil lawsuit against Anthony Levandowski, who allegedly sped off with a trove of trade secrets after resigning from Waymo LLC, Google’s self-driving technology company. Waymo not only sued Levandowski, but also his new employer, Uber, and another co-conspirator, Lior Ron. Since our initial post, things have gotten progressively … Continue Reading
Drafting an enforceable (and meaningful) non-compete provision in an employment agreement can be difficult. Many states, like Louisiana, recognize that non-compete provisions in employment agreements raise a serious public policy concern. In Louisiana, this public policy is set forth in La. Rev. Stat. 23:921. It requires non-compete provisions to set forth specific parishes or municipalities in … Continue Reading
AT&T Services, Inc. and its subsidiary, DirectTV, LLC (collectively, “AT&T”) sued Max Retrans, LLC (“Max Retrans”), a consulting company that works with local broadcasting companies to sell their content to Pay-TV service providers for re-broadcast. Background. Local broadcasting companies—like the local affiliates of ABC, FOX, CBS, and NBC—are licensed by the FCC to broadcast their television … Continue Reading
In Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, the U.S. Supreme Court held that government agencies can withhold a private company’s records from public disclosure under Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) if the company has treated the information as confidential and also received promises from the government agency to maintain the information’s … Continue Reading
A federal court in New Orleans recently allowed a trade secret claim to proceed to trial, even though the alleged trade secrets were later disclosed in a patent application. Cajun Servs. Unlimited, LLC v. Benton Energy Serv. Co., No. 17-0491 (R. Doc. 241). The Dispute. The lawsuit concerns Cajun’s patented elevator roller insert system (ERIS), … Continue Reading
The large majority of employment based trade secret claims start with an employer uncovering evidence that its employee or former employee improperly downloaded confidential business information. But a recent case in Boston illustrates that such evidence may not be necessary to bring a trade secret or unfair competition claim. The Dispute. In Amgen USA Inc. v. … Continue Reading
The Louisiana Supreme Court has not addressed whether a claim under the Louisiana Uniform Trade Secrets Act (LUTSA) precludes a claim for conversion of confidential information. But the U.S. Fifth Circuit recently did in Brad Services, LLC v. Irex Corporation, No. 17-30660 (October 17, 2018), finding that these conversion claims are not preempted. Factual Background. Brad … Continue Reading
Lawsuits alleging trade secret theft raise challenging discovery concerns, as they almost always arise in the context of an employee leaving to work for a direct competitor. Courts have struggled to balance a trade secret plaintiff’s right to obtain discovery with a competitor’s interest in protecting its own confidential business information. This balancing is particularly … Continue Reading
A recent Louisiana court of appeal decision provides guidance on two issues that frequently arise in trade secret cases. Southern Marsh Collection, LLC v. State Traditions, LLC, 2017 WL 4985217 (La. App. 1st Cir. 2017) addresses the recurring question of when customer lists qualify as trade secrets and—somewhat surprisingly—holds the Louisiana Uniform Trade Secrets Act … Continue Reading
Waymo LLC — formerly Google’s self-driving car program and currently a stand-alone company owned by Google’s parent company — is now in fierce competition with Uber to develop and capitalize on driverless technology. This battle intensified on February 23, 2017, when Waymo filed a lawsuit against Uber Technologies, Inc., Ottomotto LLC, and Otto Trucking LLC. Trade Secret Claims. … Continue Reading
The popularity of craft beers has skyrocketed. A report cited in Fortune claims that microbreweries’ market share increased from 5.7 percent in 2011 to 12 percent in 2015. This growth has led to competition as microbreweries capitalize on the growing appetite for their product. Unsurprisingly, competition has led to allegations of unlawful conduct. Summit Brewing Company, one of the … Continue Reading
Theft of trade secrets by rogue employees is frighteningly common. When employees leave or lose their jobs, about half “steal corporate data and don’t believe it’s wrong” and forty percent “plan to use the data in their new jobs,” according to a 2012 global survey published by Symantec, a security firm. The survey was based … Continue Reading
Today, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) into law. The DTSA amends the existing Economic Espionage Act that was previously limited to criminal cases on behalf of the Department of Justice. The DTSA now allows companies to pursue trade secret claims in federal court under federal law. A copy of DTSA can be found … Continue Reading
We recently reported that the U.S. Senate passed the Defend Trade Secret Act (“DTSA”), which would create a federal private cause of action for trade secret theft. This week was the U.S. House of Representatives turn. The House overwhelmingly voted to approve the DTSA by a margin of 410-2. The bill is now headed to President Obama, whose administration has indicated strong … Continue Reading
On Monday, the Senate unanimously passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) — a bill that would allow companies to pursue trade secret theft through civil litigation in federal court. This long-awaited measure is a major step towards elevating trade secrets to the level of federal protection enjoyed by the other intellectual property, such as patents, … Continue Reading
This may come as a shock. But Donald Trump has unwittingly offered trade secret litigators a teachable moment. It arose in his recent squabble with fellow presidential hopeful Senator Lindsey Graham. After Trump mocked Senator John McCain for being a POW, Graham told CNN that Trump was “becoming a jackass” and later called Trump “the world’s biggest jackass” … Continue Reading
The Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade (CREATe.org) just released a new White Paper, “Reasonable Steps” To Protect Trade Secrets: Leading Practices in an Evolving Legal Landscape. It’s a must read for companies grappling with how best to protect and manage their trade secrets. We have discussed a previous CREATe report that discussed the devastating economic effect that … Continue Reading
When the celebrity gossip blog Gawker decided to post highlights from a sex tape starring Hulk Hogan, it never thought that decision would lead to suing the FBI. But that’s what happened—and just recently, Gawker prevailed. A federal judge in Florida ordered that the FBI and the Executive Office of United States Attorneys (EOUSA) must respond to Gawker’s FOIA request—even though the agencies argued … Continue Reading
Williams-Sonoma is embroiled in a contentious trade secret theft case with its former executive and direct competitor. On June 18, 2015, a federal district court in Tennessee granted a preliminary injunction motion to enjoin Williams-Sonoma’s former vice president and direct competitor from using confidential business information, soliciting Williams-Sonoma employees, and destroying electronic evidence. But the federal court refused to give Williams-Sonoma … Continue Reading
Accessing someone’s computer without authorization is a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). This past week, several news sources have reported that the FBI and Justice Department are investigating executives of the St. Louis Cardinals for allegedly violating the CFAA by hacking into the Houston Astros’ internal computer network. It’s suspected that the Cardinals’ front … Continue Reading
Cyber-security and data breaches are hot-button issues that recently received some well-deserved attention from the federal government. Last year we posted about the FBI’s efforts to combat economic espionage and trade secret theft. At that time, the Assistant Director of the FBI—who was testifying before a Senate subcommittee—offered salient advice on how American companies could … Continue Reading
In a previous post, we examined T-Mobile’s complaint against Chinese smartphone marker Huawei and its US subsidiary, in which T-Mobile accused Huawei employees of stealing trade secrets relating to a mobile phone testing robot named “Tappy”. T-Mobile filed its complaint in September 2014, and the following month Huawei’s US subsidiary responded with a motion to … Continue Reading
The recent decision in Wellogix, Inc. v. SAP America, Inc., No. 14-0741 (S.D. Tex. Nov. 10, 2014), demonstrates that federal courts can rely on contractual forum selection clauses to dismiss or transfer trade secret theft cases. It’s a reminder to weigh how these clauses could impact litigation strategies and to consider the specific language negotiated … Continue Reading
Key takeaway: Where appropriate, confidentiality agreements should include promises not to reverse engineer the disclosing party’s technology. Meet “Tappy”, the mobile phone testing robot. Designed by T-Mobile’s Bellevue, Washington, labs in 2006, its mechanical “finger” mimics user inputs for mobile phones. Tappy helps T-Mobile model how users interact with mobile phones, replicating days or weeks … Continue Reading