Cyberside Chats: Everyone wants to be Batman. Hacking Back & Cybersecurity Law
Looking back at 2021 and ahead to 2022
Monthly Minute | Protecting Against Data Scrapers
Death of Activist Aaron Swartz Could Spur Changes to Computer Fraud & Abuse Act
Employer’s Takeover of Former CEO’s LinkedIn Account Lawful Under CFAA
Welcome to WilmerHale’s bulletin on recent trade secret case law and relevant news items. We’ve affectionately nicknamed it “Readily Ascertainable” because, unlike a trade secret, it should be easy to figure out....more
In the world of business, safeguarding your company’s valuable information is crucial to maintaining a competitive edge. One of the most important assets a company can have is its trade secrets. But what exactly are trade...more
As we all await rulings on the lawsuits challenging the FTC’s Noncompete Rule (one of which may be decided later today), we provide an update on the Knicks/Raptors trade secret case that we previously discussed on EBG’s...more
Last month, Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Vital”), the manufacturer of the Bang energy drink, fell short in its post-trial challenge to a “monster” jury award in favor of Monster Energy Company (“Monster”). ...more
The New York Knicks just sued their former employee and his new employer, the Toronto Raptors, in a case that can teach employers a lot about trade secret misappropriation. The August 21 lawsuit accuses their Eastern...more
Advice that may have served House of Pain in their 1992 hit song, “Jump Around,” to “bring a shotgun” to battle likely does not translate well to plaintiffs in federal litigation contemplating bringing a “shotgun” pleading to...more
UPDATE: On December 8, 2022, the court issued an order granting the Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction. On December 6, 2022, the parties in the long-running litigation between now-defunct data analytics company hiQ...more
On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit earlier this week again affirmed the lower court’s order preliminarily enjoining LinkedIn Corp. (“LinkedIn”) from blocking data analytics company hiQ Labs, Inc.’s...more
In a recent discovery dispute before the Northern District of California, Plaintiff Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (“Monolithic”) unsuccessfully attempted to bypass California Code of Civil Procedure section 2019.210 which...more
A trade secret is any information used in one’s business that derives independent economic value from being kept secret. Unlike patents, trade secrets are protected indefinitely for as long as they remain a secret. In the...more
You may be able to bring a misappropriation of trade secrets claim even if you do not actually own the misappropriated trade secret. A growing number of federal cases indicate ownership of a trade secret may not be required...more
A trade secret is any information used in one's business that derives independent economic value from being kept secret. Unlike patents, trade secrets are protected indefinitely for as long as they remain a secret. In the...more
Introduction - The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) is the embodiment of Congress’s first attempt to draft laws criminalizing computer hacking. It is rumored that the Act was influenced by the 1983 movie WarGames, in...more
In what could be prove to be an important decision within the context of scraping of “public” data, in a recent case the Eleventh Circuit reversed a lower court’s dismissal of trade secret claims relating to the scraping of...more
After more than three years of litigation and two rounds of extensive discovery, in Calendar Research LLC v. StubHub, Inc., et al., 2:17-cv-04062-SVW-SS, the United States District Court for the Central District of California...more
Legal analytics powerhouse Lex Machina recently released its 2020 Trade Secret Litigation Report, which highlights federal litigation trends in the last decade, as well as the last year specifically. ...more
Employers continuously face a key employee or consultant leaving or separating from the company to join or start a competing business. In these inevitable scenarios, the loss – potential or actual – of the company's...more
A Tennessee District Court recently ruled in Wachter Inc. v. Cabling Innovations, LLC, 3:18-cv-00488 (W.D. Tenn. May 7, 2019) that two former employees with permitted access to company computers were not liable under the...more
A district court in Tennessee recently concluded in Wachter Inc. v. Cabling Innovations LLC that two former employees who allegedly shared confidential company information found on the company’s computer system with a...more
In drafting initial pleadings, some litigators assert every cause of action that could possibly fit the facts, so as to protect their clients from every angle. This approach requires extra care when one of the claims arises...more
The public's increasing reliance on anonymous product and company reviews posted online often gives rise to complaints by the subjects of those reviews, especially when the reviews are negative or critical, and threaten to...more
Nexsen Pruet attorney Marc Manos, a member of the SC Bar Torts and Insurance Practice Section Council, sheds light on a few recent cases from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, focused in the area of Torts & Insurance. ...more
In what appears to be a first under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), a United States District Judge has thrown out claims against an alleged trade secret thief on the basis of the DTSA’s immunity for confidential...more
Continuing our annual tradition, we present the top developments and headlines for 2017 and what we expect in 2018 in trade secret, computer fraud, and non-compete law....more
The federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (“CFAA”) has generated controversy and disagreement among courts and commentators regarding the scope of its application. The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1030, which provides for...more