Recent confirmations of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (“DOJ’s”) senior leadership and enforcement actions coupled with the continued tough stance that the Biden administration is taking towards China signal that the DOJ’s China Initiative will likely remain a strategic priority. Announced in 2018, the China Initiative, led by the DOJ’s National Security Division, seeks to counter national security threats presented by the government of China by investigating and prosecuting economic espionage, trade secret theft, hacking,…

Simple facts… In 2018, an employee requested access to and a copy of all their personal data processed by the employer during the past decade (this is pursuant to the data subject’s right of access enshrined in art. 15 (1) and (3) of the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”)). The employee considered the response unsatisfying and filed a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (“DPA”). The DPA issued a decision on February 9,…

In an opinion first issued in June 2020 and modified in October 2020, the Fifth Court of Appeals in Texas granted summary judgment in a trade secret dispute based on plaintiff’s failure to present any facts that defendants had access or exposure to plaintiff’s claimed trade secrets.  Josh Malone designed a device that fills and seals water balloons.  Kendall Harter did the same.  Mr. Malone filed a patent.  Mr. Harter accused Mr. Malone of stealing…

Tips for European employers on how to protect company trade secrets. 7 to 12 years. According to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study, this is the average amount of time spent by an employee with any one European Union employer. However, in some countries, regions and sectors, employees move around more frequently than this, and the current COVID-19 pandemic will also have had an impact on these numbers. In any event, if one…

On March 13, 2021, borrowing from California Code of Civil Procedure § 2019.210 (which requires a plaintiff to “identify. . . trade secret[s] with reasonable particularity” before it can obtain discovery on those trade secrets), a Northern District of California judge narrowed trade secret claims asserted under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) due to the plaintiff’s failure to specifically identify most of its asserted trade secrets prior to discovery.  Although not an explicit requirement…

On March 18, 2021, a jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas rendered a $152 million verdict in favor of plaintiff in a trade secrets trial twice postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.…