SYSCO MACHINERY CORPORATION, a Taiwan corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DCS USA CORPORATION, d/b/a Dorey Converting Systems, a North Carolina corporation, Defendant-Appellee, No. 24-1675. United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. July 9, 2025
“Yet one of the trade secret definitions Sysco used in its complaint includes “the Copyrighted Works,” a defined term that encompasses at least 23 apparently unredacted technical drawings deposited with the Copyright Office. J.A. 48. Sysco has not argued that it took any steps to preserve the confidentiality of those drawings or that there is a reason the Copyright Office did not make them open to public inspection. In context, we are convinced that any trade secrets Sysco might have had in those documents were “extinguished” when they were deposited. Sysco clarified at oral argument that it did not mean to include copyrighted works in the definition of its trade secrets, but its burden was to make that clear in the pleadings. The inclusion of copyrighted material is but another reason why Sysco has not plausibly alleged that it possessed a valid trade secret.”