Hypothetical, based upon a real fact pattern: Employee believes she has witnessed improper activities at her employer and begins preparing a qui tam whistleblower complaint alleging False Claims Act violations to file under seal. During the course of preparing the complaint, employee removes highly confidential electronic and original documents from her workplace, copying entire folders of sensitive
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Florida Court Rejects Argument That Plaintiff Must Make “Threshold Finding” of Trade Secret Before Proceeding With Discovery
By Joshua Salinas and Jessica Mendelson
A Florida District Court of Appeal recently confirmed that plaintiffs in trade secret misappropriation cases must identify their trade secrets with reasonably particularity before conducting discovery. AAR Mfg., Inc. v. Matrix Composites, Inc., No. 5D11–3802, 2012 WL 3870419 (Fla.App. 5 Dist., 2012). The Court of Appeal, however, rejected the notion that, as
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Extraordinary 20-Year Global Injunction For “Bulletproof” Trade Secrets Theft
We previously blogged in our 2011 year end review about a noteworthy trade secret misappropriation case where DuPont Co. successfully obtained a jury verdict of approximately $920 million in damages against rival Kolon Industries Inc. DuPont sued Kolon for the alleged theft of trade secrets regarding a proprietary fiber used to make “bulletproof” police and riot gear.
Yesterday, U.S. District
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Employer Who Sued Former Employees to Enforce Non-Competition Clauses Did Not Violate Indiana’s Blacklisting Statute
Indiana and several other states statutorily prohibit employers from “blacklisting” former employees, that is, attempting to prevent them — whether they were discharged or resigned — from obtaining subsequent employment. Responding recently to certified questions from the U.S. District Court for Southern Indiana, the Indiana Supreme Court held that former employer Loparex, LLC did not violate the statute when it
Court Declines To Stop Defendant From Seeking To Obtain Public Records That Contain Plaintiff’s Trade Secrets
A federal court recently declined to issue a blanket injunction to thwart the defendant’s campaign to obtain trade secrets information through public records requests, stressing the right and importance of access to public records. The court also pointed out that some jurisdictions — such as Mississippi, which was one of the jurisdictions where the defendant sought documents — have statutes providing a
IBM v. Johnson: the Second Circuit Weighs In
When we last wrote about IBM’s efforts to enjoin David Johnson, its former Vice President of Corporate Development, from joining Dell, Judge Stephen Robinson of the Southern District of New York had denied IBM’s second motion for preliminary injunction and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals was preparing to hold oral argument on the matter. The Court of Appeals
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