Publication of an algorithm prevents the algorithm from being a trade secret, right? Not necessarily. The Federal Circuit just reminded us that under certain circumstances that may not be the case.
Continue Reading Preliminary Injunction Upheld in Trade Secret Dispute Despite Prior Publication
Join Josh Escovedo and Jessica Corpuz in this one-hour webinar about Intellectual Property Law and will specifically address The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
Program Summary:
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021—arising from the December 2020 stimulus bill—made significant changes to intellectual property law, unbeknownst to many practitioners. This webinar will focus on the changes
Is it possible to legally protect an idea? The answer is: not really.
Intellectual property is intangible personal property. There are four types of intellectual property that are protected by law: patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. A separate set of laws governs each one. Although ideas may be intangible personal property, ideas do not
One of the first elements that a plaintiff must prove to succeed on a trade secret claim is that it is the owner of a valid trade secret. To do so, the law generally imposes a burden on plaintiffs to identify its trade secrets with sufficient particularity in order to succeed. As the Ninth Circuit recently recognized, this burden allows courts and litigants to navigate “the line between the protection of unique, innovative technologies and vigorous competition.” In InteliClear, LLC v. ETC Global Holdings, Inc. (decided October 15, 2020), the Ninth Circuit addressed the issue of whether a plaintiff had satisfied the “sufficient particularity” burden and whether the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to a defendant when its motion was filed after just one day of discovery.
In the early 2000s, InteliClear created an electronic system for managing various stock broker and securities services called “InteliClear Systems,” which used a structured query language relational database to process millions of trades a day. In 2008, ETC Global Holdings (through its predecessor and later a subsidiary) licensed the InteliClear System and signed a Software License Agreement. Within the terms of that agreement was an acknowledgment that the InteliClear information that was being provided “was confidential, proprietary and copyrighted” and that ETC agreed to maintain that confidentiality.
Continue Reading Trade Secrets and the Duty to Identify Them with Sufficient Particularity
One of the most common forms of relief sought in trade secret litigation is an injunction preventing the defendants from using or disclosing the plaintiff’s trade secret information. Although temporary restraining orders and/or preliminary injunctions may be obtained that are in place during the lawsuit, a permanent injunction is entered after trial and typically has no set time period for expiration. There are various statutes that allow a defendant to seek to modify or dissolve a trade secret injunction at a later date, including a showing that the information that is the subject of the injunction is no longer entitled to trade secret protection. The recent decision in Global Protein Products, Inc. v. Le (Cal. 6th App. Dist.) helps illustrate the high hurdle a defendant must clear in order to obtain such relief.
Continue Reading Challenging a Trade Secret Injunction? Better Come Loaded For Bear
