Womble Trade Secrets Blog: Intellectual Property Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Intellectual Property Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Intellectual Property Law

Womble Trade Secrets Blog

Womble Carlyle lawyers Press Millen and Todd Sullivan follow trade secrets law.

Post Frequency: 2.7/day

Last Entry: May 17, 2016 at 17:52:00

Laptop Seizures at U.S. Borders Implicates Trade Secret Concerns

Posted on June 26, 2008
The United States Congress is attempting to investigate reports of widespread laptop seizures by U.S. Customs Officials of business travelers going, and coming from, abroad. The same implicates troubling consequences were foreign countries to engage in the same behavior at their borders...

Small Software Company Sues Google - Alleges Trade Secret Theft

Posted on June 25, 2008
LimitNone, a small software development company, is seeking nearly $1 billion in damages in a lawsuit that accuses Google of reneging on a partnership with the small company and misappropriating its trade secrets for its Google Apps online service.The tiny five-person startup claims it entered into a confidentiality agreement with Google in March 2007 to share its trade secrets with Google's engineers, salespeople and certain key prospective Google Apps customers...

Trade Secrets and the Public Sector

Posted on June 23, 2008
The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that Kaiser Permanente and San Diego's Palomar Pomerado Health District are objecting to the requested disclosure of terms of a contract between the private company and the public hospital district that is funded, in part, by property tax receipts...

Trade Secrets Sentence for Convicted Engineer

Posted on June 21, 2008
From the Associated Press, a story about Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, a 44 year-old engineer who admitted he tried to sell fighter-pilot training software to the Chinese Navy. He was sentenced in federal district court in the Northern District of California on Wednesday to 24 months in prison, in what the AP refers to as the first sentencing for a newly defined intellectual property crime, stealing trade secrets to benefit a foreign government under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Need a British Trade Secret? Airport Good Place to Start

Posted on June 18, 2008
This jarring (seemingly hyperbolic) report comes from WNUNET.com in Great Britain - lots of confidential business information is being exposed in public places:"Over two thirds of Brits travelling on business have eavesdropped on someone else's confidential business conversation, and over a third have caught sight of sensitive information on laptops...

Criminal Trial for Former Eaton Aerospace Employees is Delayed

Posted on June 17, 2008
We reported on the Eaton Aerospace criminal trade secrets trial back in May: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/05/eaton-aerospace-trade-secrets-criminal.html#links.Now the ClarionLedger.com is reporting the scheduled trial of five former Eaton Aerospace employees accused of stealing trade secrets from the Jackson company for aerospace contracts has been delayed...

Departing Broker Litigation Still An Issue

Posted on June 16, 2008
We blogged the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling regarding memorized trade secrets here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/02/trade-secrets-all-in-head.html#links.Well, the securities brokers who routinely depart one financial services firm for another have taken note and are concerned that this decision, and other regulatory developments under way, spell trouble for the departing brokers...

IBM and PSI Engage in Trade Secrets Arguments

Posted on June 11, 2008
IBM sued Platform Solutions, Inc. ("PSI") in 2006 alleging the PSI's servers illegally utilize IBM technology. In August of 2007, IBM apparently amended its complaint to add a misappropriation of trade secrets claim against PSI and PSI has now moved for summary judgment on that claim, asserting that it is time-barred under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act...

Taiwan Signals It Is Starting to Take Trade Secrets Seriously

Posted on June 10, 2008
The attached link contains an interview with Dr. Chii-Ming Yiin, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs. It proves an interesting read, but we were most interested in the question and answer relating to the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), including trade secrets, in that country...

Trade Secret Risks Seen as Elevated in "Clean Technology" Field

Posted on June 09, 2008
This report from CNNMoney.com caught our eye. The piece concerns the rise of intellectual property lawsuits in the "clean technologies" sector. Brian C. Yerger, and analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities Corp., compared what is happening to the information-technology book of the late 1990s...

Trade Secrets and Telemarketers

Posted on June 07, 2008
From KCRA television in Sacramento, a story about two siblings in Modesto, CA who work for competing telemarketing companies. They were arrested Thursday on charges of stealing thousands of dollars worth of trade secrets.The Modesto police accuse Kevin Vincent of taking lead and contact information from the telemarketing company for which he worked -- Telecontact Resource Services -- and sending the information to his sister who works at Telepro, a competing telemarketing company...

Follow-Up to California Case on When the Trade Secrets Clock Starts Ticking

Posted on June 04, 2008
Here's a follow-up, from Financial Week, to Todd's posting from yesterday.

Trade Secrets Statute of Limitations - California

Posted on June 03, 2008
If someone steals a trade secret and then sells it to a third party, when does the statute of limitations begin to run on any misappropriation claim the trade secret owner might have against the third party?The Court of Appeals for the State of California says that the clock starts ticking when the trade secret owner has any reason to suspect that the third party knows or should know that the information they've purchased is a trade secret...

Trade Secret Shrimps on the Barbie

Posted on May 30, 2008
This report from Australia's Fairfax Digital - Australia is experiencing a surge in trade secrets, unfair competition and intellectual property litigation. According to one experienced Australian attorney: "Often there is dissent about who owns the intellectual property rights in employee work product," he says...

Clear Channel Sues Tribune Co. and Former Executive for Trade Secret Theft

Posted on May 28, 2008
As readers of this blog know, we're reporting more and more on competitively-sensitive hires that result in certain and immediate litigation alleging trade secret misappropriation and tortious interference with employment contracts.This is a substantial case of that type - Clear Channel accuses Chicago-based Tribune Co...

The Trade Secrets of Salad in a Package

Posted on May 26, 2008
Chiquita apparently owns a subsidiary called "Fresh Express" and it developed the concept of "salad in a package." Well, Chiquita is alleging that key members of its packaged salad management team got a lot of cabbage to go elsewhere and now they're, em, dressing them down with a lawsuit for stealing key people and secrets...

Protection of Trade Secrets in the Gulf States

Posted on May 24, 2008
Okay, so this one is more a curiosity than anything else, but the Gulf Times (of Doha in Qatar) publishes a question-and-answer column called "The Legal Helpline." Following is a verbatim transcript of one of this week's questions, from "IB" in Doha:Q: We run a business related to artistic production and creativity...

Boot Suit Settled

Posted on May 23, 2008
We don't know much about the trade secrets of boots, but two companies that make boots tried to kick each other in a version of the "trade secrets two-step." Rocky Brands had claimed the defendants were using Rocky trade secrets to make "knock-off" boots...

Trade Secrets and Dolls Continued

Posted on May 21, 2008
Forbes.com has an update from the Associated Press on a story we first wrote about in November 2006 concerning a lawsuit by toy maker Mattel (maker of the famous Barbie doll) against insurgent toy maker MGA, maker of Barbie's chief competition, the "Bratz" dolls...

Craigslist Sues eBay for Misappropriation of Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition

Posted on May 15, 2008
Here's a biggie - Craigslist is counter-suing its own minority shareholder, eBay, for trade secrets misappropriation that allegedly assisted eBay in launching its own classified ad business. The complaint can be read by clicking on the link below. http://blog...

Eaton Aerospace Trade Secrets Criminal Case Has Seven of Twelve Counts Dismissed

Posted on May 12, 2008
The Mississippi Clarion Ledger is reporting that 7 of 12 criminal charges brought against five former Eaton Aerospace employees have been dismissed and that federal prosecutors intend to appeal that decision. Federal District Court Judge Barbour threw out the first five counts of the latest indictment, saying the charges were unconstitutionally vague...

Jurors "Outraged" By Trade Secret Claims Made In Texas

Posted on May 09, 2008
Here's a relative rarity - a trade secrets misappropriation case that goes to a full jury trial and verdict. National Oilwell Varco is an oil field parts seller. It had some long-term employees leave without any noncompete agreements restricting their re-employment in the industry...

NC Court of Appeals Decision on Pleading Standards in Trade Secrets Case

Posted on May 09, 2008
It's nice (and easy) to be able to link to one of our sister blogs, the North Carolina Appellate Blog, concerning a case from earlier this week from the North Carolina Court of Appeals.In Washburn v. Yadkin Valley Bank & Trust, the court affirmed dismissal of a trade secrets claim on the grounds that the identity of the trade secrets and the manner of the alleged misappropriation were pleaded with insufficient particularity...

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Writes Op-Ed Piece In Newark Advocate

Posted on May 08, 2008
We think we're reading this correctly - a sitting Ohio Supreme Court justice has written an op-ed piece about a recently decided case entitled "Employees Should Realize Trade Secrets are Well-Protected." The case Justice Pfeifer is referring to, of course, was one we've blogged and has also generated lots of press in the trade secrets world - the case that holds memorized trade secret data is just as protectible than that taken in tangible forms (e...

Trade Secrets Cases on the Upswing

Posted on May 07, 2008
This is not exactly scientific, but it's somewhat empirical:If you do a search on the term "trade secrets" in the Westlaw federal database (federal district, appeals and Supreme Court cases) for 2007, 905 cases are returned. That's an increase of 20% from 2006 (754) and an increase of 231% from 1997, ten years before (273)...

The Trade Secrets of Hedge Funds

Posted on May 05, 2008
Portfolio.com published an interesting piece recently concerning the increasing number of suits commenced to stop hedge fund employees from departing to work for a competitor. The article identifies state trade secrets law as a primary legal vehicle for getting injunctions against the departing employees...

Appeal in Virginia Trade Secrets Case

Posted on May 05, 2008
From the Danville (VA) News: This one's a little opaque, but it's from nearby enough that we ought to report it.Robin Tomer, the wife of a Danville City Councilman, filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia against a jury decision that found her liable on a Virginia Trade Secrets Act claim brought by her former employer, Romar Medequip...

ComputerWorld Kenya Warns "There Are Computer Thieves Out There!"

Posted on April 30, 2008
Okay, okay. We admit it. We thought it was a little ironic that an online magazine called "ComputerWorld Kenya" was warning about data thievery. That said, in a legitimate piece, Christopher Burgess echoes points we've made on our blog many times - that nation/states are active in stealing proprietary information for their benefit...

The Marvell Case ? Screwing Up a Voicemail Message Waives Attorney-Client Privilege

Posted on April 27, 2008
Here?s how Sue Riessinger put it in an article in Corporate Counsel in June 2005:There are dumb mistakes, and then there are really dumb mistakes. Four years ago Matthew Gloss, the general counsel of Marvell Semiconductor Inc., and two of his colleagues phoned the legal chief of a rival company, Jasmine Networks Inc...

Further Developments in Trade Secrets Case Concerning NC Scientist

Posted on April 22, 2008
Further to our original story posted here. A follow-up from the Burlington (NC) Times-News reporting progress in this case, posted without comment (because it's Todd's case).

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...

The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...