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Protecting your competitive edge

Our Trade Secrets team develops and implements effective strategies for protecting trade secrets, and investigates and litigates related matters for companies in all industries. We have highly experienced lawyers around the world with a strong track record of success. We take a comprehensive approach to solving trade secret issues, no matter how complex.

Clients rely on us to help when their trade secrets may have been mishandled, and when they may have come into improper contact with another company’s trade secrets. In today’s dynamic, digital business environment, these events arise with ever-increasing frequency and severity – and often with no knowledge of senior leadership and no malicious intent. But they still need to be fully investigated, understood, and remediated, with or without litigation.

We litigate and resolve bet-the-company litigation through settlement or final judgment, for plaintiff and defendant clients, in US state and federal courts, arbitrations, and administrative actions, including International Trade Commission matters.

Our team is highly experienced in fast-paced injunction and temporary restraining order practice, expedited discovery and dispositive motion practice, trial practice, and appellate practice, internationally and across all industries. We collaborate with colleagues around the world to assess and resolve cross-border, multi-jurisdictional matters.

“Because trade secret matters occur in different circumstances, we work seamlessly with other practices across our firm to manage the full spectrum of issues in an integrated way.”

We prosecute and defend trade secret misappropriation cases in all settings. These include business-to-business dealings, employee mobility scenarios, idea-submission cases, and overlapping state and federal claims that often arise in connection with trade secret claims.

Because trade secret matters occur in different circumstances, we work seamlessly with other practices across our firm – including Data Security, Compliance, e-Discovery, Employment Mobility, Patent Litigation, Copyright, Trademark, and Media – to manage the full spectrum of issues in an integrated way.

We’ll work closely with you to meet your objectives in all scenarios: when a data privacy breach is investigated or an e-discovery project is in progress and trade secrets are uncovered; when trade secret issues arise with departing or onboarding employees; or when an investigation or litigation involves several forms of intellectual property.

Awards and recognition

Experience

  • Obtaining a summary judgment victory for a global pharmaceutical company against trade secret claims related to three highly successful medical device product lines, with eight-figure damages claimed and a permanent injunction sought.
  • Obtaining a 10-week bench trial victory for a food manufacturing company with a permanent injunction to protect its secret recipe.
  • Defending an international cryptocurrency company against a USD100 million claim for trade secret misappropriation and other business torts related to its Asia-Pacific business plan.
  • Advising a confidential multinational chemicals and manufacturing company in connection with an FBI investigation into an employee trying to sell company trade secrets abroad.
  • Advising a confidential technology company where a c-suite executive developed a competing product while still employed by our client. Through pre-litigation positioning and strategy, we obtained complete capitulation, resulting in the assigning of all IP rights of the product to our client, the surrendering of all company stock and options by the executive, and their payment of all lawyers’ fees and costs associated with the pre-litigation investigation, including all forensic expenses.
  • Investigating and resolving an internal matter for a blue-chip client which involved an extensive trade secret theft by recently onboarded employees and partners. The new arrivals had surreptitiously used third-party systems to smuggle trade secrets from their prior employer to our client, a company in a highly regulated field. They had disguised it all as a new product, claiming they had built it at the company in record time. Together with our client, we investigated the matter, uncovered the full extent of the activities, resolved the matter with the exploited prior employer without litigation, avoided regulatory investigation, avoided litigation with down-stream customers, and resolved the employment issues without litigation – on time and under budget.
  • Advising a global pharmaceutical company on policies and procedures for trade secret protection and quick reaction.
  • Advising an organic cosmetics ingredient manufacturer on state and federal bet-the-company trade secret misappropriation action, involving allegations of theft by a former consulting scientist.

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Trade Secrets Scorebox

Assess the maturity of your trade secrets protection strategy
We have created an easy to use tool based on EU law to help businesses assess the maturity of their trade secrets protection strategy. Once an overall maturity level is determined, our lawyers can provide an overview of the best course of action to improve, maintain and monitor your strategy.
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