Liability can arise when one party unlawfully acquires, uses, or discloses another party's trade secrets, resulting in harm or damages. There are no express criminal remedies available for misappropriation of a trade secret.
When an employer suspects criminal conduct, it may decide to contact law enforcement to investigate and prosecute trade secret theft, in addition to or instead of sending one or more cease and desist letters. Misappropriating trade secrets is a crime under various federal laws and under California law.
Defenses to a Misappropriation Lawsuit You will need to use your own files and records to prove that you completed development before any dates on which the alleged misappropriation occurred. Related, but less strong, is a defense of reverse engineering.
Like most states, California has adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). The law allows owners of trade secrets to pursue legal action and recover damages for unauthorized disclosure, misappropriation, and theft of trade secrets.
The plaintiff in a trade-secret case lawsuit must prove three facts: (1) it has some valuable business information that it has kept secret; (2) the information is not generally known; and (3) the defendant has used that secret. A defendant may attack each showing, but some attacks are better than others.
A court may grant an injunction to prevent any actual or threatened misappropriation, provided that the injunction does not “prevent a person from entering into an employment relationship,” and that any conditions placed on employment are based on “evidence of threatened misappropriation and not merely on the ...
Anyone who steals trade secrets, or receives stolen trade secrets knowing that they were unlawfully obtained, can be punished by a maximum of 10 years in federal prison plus fines.
One way of showing misappropriation is by showing that an acquirer knew or had reason to know that the trade secret was acquired by improper means but the trade secret is acquired or retained. Disclosure or Use of Trade Secret as Misuse.
Although the test for obtaining a TRO or PI may vary slightly across jurisdictions, generally a plaintiff seeking preliminary injunctive relief must satisfy a four-factor test: (1) that he or she is likely to succeed on the merits of his claims; (2) that he or she is likely to suffer irreparable harm without ...