Will trade secret litigation increase in 2017?

On Behalf of | Jan 6, 2017 | Business Litigation

Trade secrets are vehemently protected by their creators. Companies do everything they can to ensure that their secret manufacturing process or their secret ingredient is kept under wraps so that their competitors can’t replicate their iconic and brand-making tricks. By their very names, trade secrets are not supposed to be public knowledge. They are supposed to be kept hidden away so that the creators can benefit from it’s unique nature.

Companies that have trade secrets and are looking to protect them from other companies will be glad that the 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act is around. The DTSA adds another legal option for companies that are looking to hold other companies accountable when they try to steal, utilize or otherwise profit from their trade secrets.

See, trade secret litigation was (and still is) governed by state and common laws. As a result, the litigation is usually handled at those levels. But the DTSA is a federal law. It also grants companies the ability to request an order of seizure for any companies that violate their trade secret. It’s a new option for remedying trade secret litigation that was not necessarily available previously.

Under the DTSA in 2017, many officials believe that trade secret litigation will increase simply due to this added option that companies have to protect themselves and their trade secrets. Only time will tell, but it is an interesting development in the world of intellectual property law.

Source: Lexology, “Trade Secrets Litigation Likely to Surge in 2017 Under the DTSA,” Cozen O’Connor, Dec. 30, 2016