Trade Secret Litigation under the Dtsa: A Comprehensive Guide

91 questions on trade secret litigation under the dtsa, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are exemplary damages available under the DTSA?
• Can a defendant recover fees for a bad-faith trade secret claim?
• Can a trade secret plaintiff amend its identification after discovery?
• Can a trade secret plaintiff identify its secrets too narrowly?
• Can the DTSA reach misappropriation that began before May 11, 2016?
• Does an employee's authorized access defeat a trade secret claim?
• Does a trade secret have to be complex or expensive to develop?
• Does California's early-identification requirement apply in federal court?
• Does disclosing information to a vendor destroy trade secret status?
• Does the DTSA eliminate the inevitable disclosure doctrine?
• Does the DTSA reach conduct outside the United States?
• How does a defendant discount a trade secret case without winning it?
• How does a defendant's timeline become evidence of misappropriation?
• How does eBay affect permanent injunctions in trade secret cases?
• How does most trade secret litigation actually end?
• How does the DTSA limit injunctions against former employees?
• How does the statute of limitations work in trade secret cases?
• How do you prove that information has independent economic value?
• How do you try a trade secret case without disclosing the secret?
• How is a new employer held liable for trade secret misappropriation?
• How is the independent development defense proved?
• How is trade secret use proved when there is no direct evidence?
• How should a company operationalize the § 1833(b) notice?
• How should defense counsel attack the reasonable-measures element?
• Is acquisition alone enough to constitute misappropriation?
• Is a defendant's own conduct in taking information evidence that it had value?
• Is filing trade secret material under seal automatic?
• Is remediating security gaps after discovering theft considered spoliation?
• Should a defendant image devices voluntarily in a trade secret dispute?
• What are the limits of the reverse engineering defense?
• What are the penalties for criminal trade secret theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1832?
• What are the three sources of a duty of confidence in a trade secret case?
• What categories of secrecy measures do courts look for?
• What claims typically ride along with a DTSA count?
• What did IDX Systems v. Epic Systems decide about trade secret identification?
• What does a realistic trade secret remedy look like?
• What does a well-built trade secret complaint plead — and not plead?
• What does "readily ascertainable through proper means" mean?
• What does UTSA § 7 displace and what does it preserve?
• What do forensic examiners look for in a departing-employee case?
• What happens to claims about confidential information that is not a trade secret?
• What is a royalty injunction under UTSA § 2(b)?
• What is California Code of Civil Procedure § 2019.210?
• What is economic espionage under 18 U.S.C. § 1831?
• What is the combination or compilation doctrine in trade secret law?
• What is the difference between the DTSA and the state UTSA in practice?
• What is the general knowledge and skill limitation?
• What is the head-start principle in trade secret injunctions?
• What is the interstate commerce hook for a DTSA claim?
• What is the most damaging document in a trade secret defense case?
• What is the most valuable thing a trade secret defendant can do forensically?
• What is the paradox at the center of trade secret litigation?
• What is the patent application trap in trade secret litigation?
• What is the sealing trap in trade secret litigation?
• What is the § 1833(b) whistleblower immunity notice requirement?
• What is the standard for reasonable measures under Rockwell Graphic Systems?
• What kind of protective order does a trade secret case require?
• What makes an injunction void under Rule 65(d) in a trade secret case?
• What makes an ownership challenge succeed in a DTSA case?
• What onboarding steps protect a company that hires from a competitor?
• What problems do parallel criminal and civil trade secret proceedings create?
• What relief does a trade secret TRO typically seek?
• What role does the plaintiff's own patent portfolio play in the defense?
• What should a company do in the first week after suspecting trade secret theft?
• What should a trade secret identification statement contain?
• What sources build the "publicly available" defense?
• What standard governs a preliminary injunction in a trade secret case?
• What supporting provisions accompany the criminal trade secret statutes?
• What Supreme Court cases protect the right to reverse engineer?
• What two features of PepsiCo v. Redmond are usually forgotten?
• When does a trade secret injunction terminate under the UTSA?
• When does the inevitable disclosure doctrine actually matter?
• When should a plaintiff not seek ex parte seizure?
• Where does the inevitable disclosure doctrine stand across jurisdictions?
• Which claims survive UTSA displacement?
• Who can sue for trade secret misappropriation under the DTSA?
• Why are copied errors so powerful in trade secret cases?
• Why are trade secret damages the hardest damages in IP?
• Why do courts scrutinize trade secret discovery so carefully?
• Why do defendants move early for a particularized trade secret identification?
• Why does California reject the inevitable disclosure doctrine?
• Why does preservation matter to both sides in a trade secret case?
• Why does the improper means inquiry turn on commercial ethics rather than legality?
• Why do trade secret plaintiffs sometimes lose everything but their contract claim?
• Why has remote work made the reasonable-measures element harder?
• Why is cutting weak trade secret claims the most valuable thing plaintiff's counsel does?
• Why is negative know-how often the most valuable thing a company owns?
• Why is spoliation evidence often worth more than the underlying evidence?
• Why is the contract claim the load-bearing wall of a trade secret case?
• Why is the trade secret identification fight the most important part of the case?
• Why should a trade secret plaintiff not reflexively plead the CFAA?