Posts by: Michael Weil

Pyrrhic Victory For Parties Seeking Fracking Fluid Disclosures

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Parties advocating public disclosure of the chemical makeup of fracking fluids may have won a recent battle in Wyoming, but are they losing the war?  On March 12, 2014, the Wyoming Supreme Court in Powder River Basin Resource Council v. Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission reversed a district court’s order exempting fracking fluid information from public disclosure.  The court made two key findings.  First, the court clarified that parties seeking disclosure in Wyoming are entitled to de novo district court review of administrative decisions exempting fracking fluid information from disclosure as trade secrets.  Second, it held that the “narrow” definition of trade secrets under FOIA applies to exemption claims. READ MORE →

That’s the Way the Consensus Crumbles: CISPA Splits Natural Allies in High-Tech

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Orrick Trade Secrets Watch

If there’s one thing Americans of all political stripes seem to agree on, it’s the need to thwart cyber-attacks on critical U.S. systems.  Just this week, the Pentagon for the first time openly blamed China for hacking U.S. government computer infrastructure.

Yet a bill that would combat cyber attacks by enhancing information-sharing among government agencies and private companies is once again stumbling through Congress, its fate thrown into question by intra-Silicon Valley rivalries and a threatened White House veto.  The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) would permit information-sharing about possible cyber-security threats among government agencies and private companies.  The main idea behind CISPA is that expanding the information flow would help disseminate and centralize information that is otherwise fragmented and siloed, which would help halt cyber-attacks.  These attacks pose a threat READ MORE →