Excess Cargo? Shipping Common Law Claims Out of a Trade Secret Complaint

Editorial BoardPosted on August 16, 2017

AFS, a company specializing in streamlining shipping costs and logistics, had its eight count amended complaint streamlined to only one—its Tennessee Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“TUSTA”) claim—primarily due to preemption and AFS’s lack of specificity as to its common law claims.

AFS filed suit in December 2016 against two prior employees, Christopher Cochran and Alessandro Rustioni, and their new competing company, Freightwise LLC. AFS’s complaint set forth the classic case of defecting employee trade secret theft. Among other things, AFS alleged that Cochran and Rustioni founded Freightwise in 2014 while still employed for AFS. Both continued to work for AFS in sales leadership positions until late 2015 and early 2016. And, they allegedly conspired to and secretly organized Freightwise by soliciting one of AFS’s major clients and maliciously interfering with its high-value contracts. READ MORE →

EVEN BAMBI IS A TRADE SECRET: Eastern District Of Texas Finds That Lineage and Genetic Information of Deer Are Trade Secrets, Grants Preliminary Injunction

Michael Weil and Tierra PiensPosted on July 28, 2017

As surprising as it may be to city dwellers, the deer farming industry generates $3 billion per year for the U.S. economy. According to the North American Deer Farmers Association, “deer farming is one of the fastest growing industries in rural America.” The corollary of the deer farming industry is a burgeoning deer breeding industry. As a court in the Eastern District of Texas recently noted, the “deer breeding industry is a potentially lucrative industry with single straws of buck semen selling for $5,000 to $20,000 on average, and ranging all the way up to $1 million to purchase the entire buck.” READ MORE →

Amendments to Texas UTSA Bring it Closer in Line with DTSA, but Differences Remain

Editorial BoardPosted on June 22, 2017

American and Texas state flags flying on the dome of the Texas State Capitol building in Austin Amendments to Texas UTSA Bring it Closer in Line with DTSA, but Differences Remain

(Editors’ note: Thanks to Orrick summer associate, Ruben Sindahl, for his help with this blog post.)

Just four years after the Lone Star State ended its holdout by becoming the 48th State to adopt the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Texas passed a bill to amend its enactment. The bill was signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott on May 19, 2017, and will take effect on September 1, 2017.

A “Virtual” Home Is Not a Home: Court Sanctions Plaintiffs for “Reckless Disregard” in Deciding the Proper Forum for Their Litigation

Jacob M. HeathPosted on May 30, 2017

Toy model house on pier by water A “Virtual” Home Is Not a Home: Court Sanctions Plaintiffs for “Reckless Disregard” in Deciding the Proper Forum for Their Litigation

The following blog post is courtesy of our sister blog, NorCal IP.

Usually, one benefit of being a plaintiff is deciding in what forum to pursue litigation. Generally, even a foreign-based plaintiff may pursue litigation in a U.S. forum where a defendant may be found or in which there is a substantial connection to the litigation. There are, however, limits on a plaintiff’s choice of forum, and a recent decision in Tapgerine LLC v. 50Mango, Inc. demonstrates that pushing those limits may result in sanctions.

ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE AND PROTECTING TRADE SECRETS: Ninth Circuit Holds That Reasonable Measures to Guard Technology are Sufficient

Editorial BoardPosted on May 19, 2017

How can you protect your trade secrets from a vast and well-concealed international effort to steal those secrets? What constitutes a “reasonable” effort to protect that information where at least one competitor may already have the information? The Ninth Circuit recently opined on these matters in the ongoing saga of U.S. v. Liew.

In 2014, Walter Liew and his company, USA Performance Technology, Inc., were convicted of multiple offenses, including claims under the Economic Espionage Act and conveying misappropriated trade secrets to a third party. The trade secrets related to DuPont’s technology for producing titanium dioxide, which is used in a wide range of products such as paint and Oreo cookies. READ MORE →

USPTO’s Second Trade Secrets Symposium Looks Back on First Year of DTSA and Ahead Toward Challenges of International Trade Secrets Protection

Editorial BoardPosted on May 11, 2017

On May 8, 2017, the United States Patent and Trademark Office hosted its second event on trade secrets. When we covered the USPTO’s inaugural trade secrets symposium held in January 2015, there was a palpable sense among DC insiders that, at long last, federal trade secrets legislation was imminent.

Readers of this blog of course know the rest of that story: obviously the biggest change in the landscape since the last event was the passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. In fact, the USPTO intentionally timed this event to fall near the one-year anniversary of the DTSA’s passage.

What else had changed in the last two years? To answer that question, I once again traveled to USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, VA to attend the symposium and provide TSW readers with the following report. READ MORE →

The Saga Continues: New York’s Highest Court Will Weigh in on Aleynikov’s Fate

Stephanie LeePosted on May 2, 2017

On April 20, 2017, the New York Court of Appeals issued a brief order continuing former Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov’s eight-year voyage through the state’s and country’s legal systems. Here’s the issue: does making a digital copy of misappropriated source code instead of physical copy constitute a “tangible reproduction or representation” of the source code? READ MORE →

Nice Try: Federal Circuit Denies Uber Engineer’s Writ, Affirming the District Court

Editorial BoardPosted on May 1, 2017

In trade secret cases, it is often the case that a defendant company and employee accused of trade secret misappropriation enter into a joint defense agreement. Often under such JDAs, facts, strategies and documents are shared with the understanding that they will remain confidential. READ MORE →

It’s Positioning That Matters: Texas Court of Appeals Holds Proof Of Actual Use Not Required At The Temporary Injunction Phase

James McQuade and Stephanie LeePosted on April 7, 2017

Christopher Hughes worked for Age Industries, Ltd. (“AI”) for nearly 20 years. He was the general manager of one of AI’s branch facilities and a limited partner of the company. In this role, Hughes had access to much of AI’s proprietary and trade secret information, including specialized customer pricing information, financial reports, and business strategies. After leaving AI, Hughes became the operations manager of a new competitor in the corrugated packing materials market—Diamondback Corrugated Container, LLC. READ MORE →

Thinly Pled Allegations of Trade Secret Misappropriation under DTSA Are Vulnerable to Dismissal

Matthew Ingles and Mike DelikatPosted on March 17, 2017

A dismissal with prejudice is a plaintiff’s worst fear realized. When it comes to alleging a proper claim for trade secret misappropriation, the Western District of Kentucky recently reminded plaintiffs just how critical it is to “kick the tires.” In Raben Tire Co., LLC v. McFarland, Case No. 5:16-cv-00141 (W.D. Ken.), plaintiff Raben Tire Co., LLC, alleged misappropriation of trade secrets against two former employees under the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1831 et seq., and the Kentucky Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“KUTSA”), Ky. Rev. Stat. § 365.880 et seq., along with a handful of additional common-law claims. READ MORE →

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