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Trade Secrets & Unfair Competition Litigation
A company's trade secrets are among its most valued assets. These secrets can provide important competitive advantages and must be protected from loss to competitors. Likewise, companies must ensure that their own activities do not give rise to assertions of misappropriating trade secrets from others. These issues are particularly important today as joint ventures, partnerships and confidential relationships with employees, customers or vendors have become standard operating practices for growing businesses.
Intellectual Property Group attorneys bring exceptional resources to our trade secrets practice, to ensure that all of our client’s intellectual assets are protected to the fullest. Our attorneys work with businesses across the spectrum of commercial and industrial enterprise – from old-line manufacturing to new economy Internet start-ups – to establish and improve trade secret protection programs. We effectively integrate patent, trademark and copyright protection into an overall strategic plan for protecting a company's intellectual property. And we aggressively enforce those protections around the globe.
We have litigated trade secret cases in state and federal courts, relying on common law, state statutes (often based on the Uniform Trade Secrets Act), and federal statutes governing corporate espionage and other misappropriation of trade secrets.
Representative Experience
- We represented Silicon Laboratories in a patent and trade secrets case, including a Markman hearing, related to modems and digital access arrangement circuitry. The case was settled before trial. (Silicon Laboratories Inc. v. Analog Devices and 3Com Corporation)
- We represented Saifun Semiconductors in a case involving patents and trade secrets relating to a new generation of memory chip devices. The case settled favorably soon after Saifun filed a complaint, which resulted in the parties establishing a business relationship that included substantial value flowing to Saifun. (Saifun Semiconductors v. AMD and Fujitsu)
- We represented Motorola in a trade secrets action relating to microprocessor technology; the case was settled before trial. (Motorola v. Intel)
- We successfully resolved a trade secret dispute in which our client accused a major consumer products manufacturer of industrial espionage to gain information concerning our client's development of a highly confidential new component of a manufacturer's product. After our team was brought in to take over the litigation, we implemented an aggressive strategy that led to a very favorable negotiated resolution.
©2008 Ropes & Gray LLP. All rights reserved.
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