In a recent Holland & Knight webinar, Partners Kara Ariail, Brandon Elledge, and Terry Elling discussed trade secrets and related issues affecting government contractors when employees are hired or leave. In case you missed it, here is the PowerPoint presentation of this webinar.

The webinar provided an overview on proprietary information and trade secrets and discussed associated claims and litigation with employees and competitors. The group also discussed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 and its impact as the number of actions in federal court have increased to 1,134 in 2017 as opposed to the average of approximately 900 per year from 2009-2016. Other topics that were discussed include:

• the protection of trade secrets and proprietary information during employee intake and exit

• data rights issues and how to address claims that technical data and computer software developed under or used to perform government contracts do not qualify as trade secrets

• how whistleblower rights intersect with trade secret protections and non-disclosure agreements