Seyfarth is a sponsor of the 2021 Sedona Conference on Developing Guidelines for Trade Secret Issues, taking place on June 21-22, 2021, and is taking place virtually. The conference will present for public dialogue for the first time the consensus, non-partisan publications from the Sedona Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets, including:
WG12 Commentary on the Proper Identification of Asserted Trade Secrets in Misappropriation Lawsuits
WG12 Commentary on The Employee Life Cycle Relating to Trade…
In Seyfarth’s second installment in its 2021 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth attorneys Richard Lutkus, Bob Stevens, and Matthew Simmons outlined best practices and steps companies can take to continue to protect intellectual capital, including policies, protections, security concerns, and agreements needed to protect information in a remote environment.
As a conclusion to this webinar, we compiled a summary of takeaways:
Technical takeaways to avoid your trade secrets and IP ending up leaked on…
The Illinois Trade Secrets Act (“ITSA”), which is consistent with both other states that have adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, allows the recovery of attorneys’ fees for a party who has been forced to defend against a trade secret claim made in bad faith. See 765 ILCS 1065/5. This fee shifting provision provides an important mechanism to obtain relief for defendants who are forced to incur…
After a months-long delay due to an outbreak of COVID-19 during the first trial, a federal jury in Texas awarded a $152 million verdict—including $120 million in punitive damages—in a trade secret misappropriation case between rival software development companies.
Case Summary
In 2019, software company ResMan LLC (“Resman”) sued its former customer Karya Property Management LLC (“Karya”), alleging that Karya provided its third party software consultant, co-defendant Expedien, with unauthorized access to Resman’s trade secrets…
We want to share some exciting news with our blog followers. Dawn Mertineit, Seyfarth partner and member of the firm’s Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes group, is co-editor of our Trading Secrets blog. She joins Robert Milligan, Trading Secrets editor, Seyfarth partner, and co-chair of the Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Compete group. We’re thrilled to have Dawn’s help in continuing to ensure our blog provides timely information on the latest legal trends…
The California Court of Appeal recently upheld the dismissal of claims against Mattel, which alleged that Mattel stole the idea for its flying Barbie doll from Technology from Heaven Unlimited (“TFHU”). Applying New York law, the Court found that Mattel did not misappropriate TFHU’s idea to create a flying Barbie using drone technology, as this idea did not have general novelty, even if the idea was novel to the buyer. Moving forward, companies should ensure…
Thursday, April 1, 2021
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific
Establishing a process, checklist, or set of best practices for employee termination and data repatriation is essential, especially in a remote work environment. Depending on the remote work policy, including whether there is a bring your own device (BYOD) policy, different steps should be followed upon termination…
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit held that the continued use doctrine is available under the DTSA, and the court permitted a plaintiff to raise a DTSA claim for misappropriation of trade secrets even though the initial misappropriation allegedly occurred before the DTSA was passed. The Ninth Circuit also held that a patent application may preclude a DTSA claim when the plaintiff does not claim that any trade secret information…
A decade ago, the Georgia legislature enacted a new restrictive covenant statute, O.C.G.A. § 13-8-51 et al. (the “Georgia RCA”). Among other things, the Georgia RCA permitted Georgia courts to blue-pencil or “modify a covenant that is otherwise void and unenforceable so long as the modification does not render the covenant more restrictive with regard to the employee than as originally drafted by the parties.” O.C.G.A. § 13-8-53(d).…
Please join the Trade Secret Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, which is chaired by Seyfarth partner Erik Weibust, for Part I of its Trade Secret Master Series: How to Settle Trade Secret Disputes with Jim Pooley. The event will be held virtually on March 9, 2021 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Eastern.
Trade secret disputes are the messy divorces of the IP world. Strong emotions abound on both sides. Helping our clients get the…