Author: Richard F. DolePublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 36
Book Description
Trade secret litigation is both intensive and expensive. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of enabling a defendant to require a plaintiff to identify the trade secrets at issue early in the discovery process and protecting a defendant that does so from responding to discovery with respect to his or her trade secrets until the plaintiff has complied. This approach is fully consistent with, if not affirmatively compelled by, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which has been enacted in 47 states, and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, which became federal law in May, 2016, both of which were enacted to protect actual trade secrets. A special California statute has implemented this approach since 1985 and both federal and state judges have followed the approach in applying procedural discovery rules. Fairness to plaintiffs requires allowing amendment of a trade secret identification to reflect new information obtained through discovery and allowing plaintiffs to excuse early identification if a defendant wrongfully has stripped them of the ability to identify the trade secrets at issue by destruction or theft of records. Properly administered, the approach encourages pre-filing investigation of trade secret claims, facilitates judicial control of discovery in trade secret cases, gives defendants fairer notice of the charges against them, and provides earlier and shaper focus to trade secret litigation.