Digital Commons Network^™

Public Concern - A "Newsworthy" Exception To The Grant Of Preliminary Injunctions In Trade Secret Cases, Sahana Murthy

Golden Gate University Law Review

Part I of this Comment provides a brief description of various provisions of California's trade secret law, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act ("UTSA"). Part II analyzes the various categories of trade secret users who may become liable for unauthorized publication of a trade secret. Part ill examines the distinct approaches of the United States Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court in granting preliminary injunctions against third party publication of confidential information. Part IV identifies the features of a newsworthy- public-concern exception to the grant of preliminary injunctions against third party publishers in trade secret cases. Part V provides justification …

A Failure Of Uniform Laws?, Michael Risch

Michael Risch

The Uniform Trade Secrets Act, adopted in forty-six states over 30 years, illustrates an important purpose of uniform laws: allowing states to adopt sister-state statutory interpretation when they enact the uniform statute. The case law of each UTSA state should theoretically apply in every other state adopting it, which provides an important benefit for small states that do not have enough litigation activity to generate their own substantial trade secret case law. This essay tests this purpose. It examines one small state’s opinions to see how much uniformity the UTSA provides. The results are somewhat surprising: the test state’s courts …

Intellectual Slavery?: The Doctrine Of Inevitable Disclosure Of Trade Secrets, Johanna L. Edelstein

Golden Gate University Law Review

This note will discuss the Seventh Circuit's analysis and the potential impact of the PepsiCo decision. The author will ultimately conclude that application of the inevitable disclosure theory in actions to prevent employers from working for competitors creates a substantial risk for employees, impedes their mobility, limits their options and strips them of their bargaining power. Additionally, this note will argue that general acceptance of the inevitable disclosure theory could have a serious impact on a wide range of industries, stifling the dissemination of general technical knowledge and economic growth.

Striking A Balance: When Should Trade Secret Law Shield Disclosures To The Government?, Elizabeth A. Rowe

Elizabeth A Rowe

Earlier this year, Toyota issued recalls on over eight million vehicles because of faulty acceleration. Assume that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requests that Toyota allow the government access to the data in black boxes on the recalled cars. The black boxes are operated by proprietary software and can only be accessed with special codes by Toyota. Assume further that Toyota refuses to provide the Black Box data to the government, claiming that it would reveal its trade secrets. How should courts approach what I coin these refusal-to-submit cases? There is a void in the literature and the …

A Statistical Analysis Of Trade Secret Litigation In Federal Courts, David S. Almeling, Darin W. Snyder, Michael Sapoznikow, Whitney E. Mccollum, Jill Weader

David S. Almeling

This Article presents, for the first time, a comprehensive statistical analysis of trade secret litigation in federal courts.

It Is Time: Why The Fda Should Start Disclosing Drug Trial Data, Mustafa Ünlü

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Although [drug] manufacturers bear the cost of research data generation, it is oftentimes a worthwhile investment that also confers significant commercial advantages. Consequently, they have argued that research data should be considered a trade secret and kept confidential. The FDA's longstanding position has been to accept this proposition. Even when Congress appeared to mandate disclosure or weaken the underlying rationale for secrecy, the FDA has continued to treat research data as confidential. A strong argument against a default posture of confidentiality is that research data disclosure would promote broad public interests by eliminating the societal costs brought about by keeping …

Equity And Efficiency In Intellectual Property Taxation, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Articles

This article examines the federal income tax regime governing intellectual property using normative criteria in evaluating taxes: equity and efficiency. The article first evaluates the current intellectual property tax scheme in terms of horizontal equity, identifying differences in tax treatment of what appear to be similar intellectual property activities. It argues that disparate tax treatments between seemingly similar intellectual property owners signal that flaws may exist in the tax system. The article then assesses the efficiency of the intellectual property tax system, examining numerous tax subsidies for intellectual property and their effectiveness in promoting economic growth. It argues that many …

Open Secrets, Michael J. Madison

Book Chapters

The law of trade secrets is often conceptualized in bilateral terms, as creating and enforcing rights between trade secret owners, on the one hand, and misappropriators on the other hand. This paper, a chapter in a forthcoming collection on the law of trade secrets, argues that trade secrets and the law that guards them can serve structural and institutional roles as well. Somewhat surprisingly, given the law’s focus on secrecy, among the institutional products of trade secrets law are commons, or managed openness: environments designed to facilitate the structured sharing of information. The paper illustrates with examples drawn from existing …

The Evolution Of Trade Secret Law And Why Courts Commit Error When They Do Not Follow The Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Sharon Sandeen

Faculty Scholarship

In the spring of 2010, the Hamline Law Review hosted a symposium to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. This article was written for the symposium and provides an exhaustive and detailed account of the historical context and drafting history of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (the UTSA).

Among other stories that it tells, the article explains that the UTSA was prompted by the “Erie/Sears/Compco squeeze.” Because of the Supreme Court’s famous decision in Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins in 1938, it was understood by business interests and their attorneys that the common …