Gaining the full benefit of proprietary information requires legal counsel experienced in counseling, licensing and litigating trade secret matters, and steeped in the interplay between trade secret and patent, standard setting, privacy, and antitrust law. Covington’s experience in all these areas that translates into a strategic advantage for its clients. Covington trade secret litigators are successful because they combine sound tactical judgment honed over years of experience litigating trade secret matters as well as advising clients on the creation, maintenance, and protection of confidential information across a wide range of industries. We have litigated trade secret matters in numerous trial and appellate courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and federal District Courts and state courts throughout the country, as well as in the Federal Trade Commission.
Covington has litigated dozens of trade secret litigations, from the seminal New York State Appellate Division ruling in Chernoff Diamond v. Fitzmaurice, to the trade secret action brought by Computer Sciences Corporation in an attempt to ward off a hostile acquisition by Computer Associates, to numerous technology-focused disputes. Our patent and trade secret advisory practices often intersect, as almost every patented invention begins as a trade secret. Particularly in counseling clients with aspirations to multinational patent rights, Covington’s mastery of best practices for trade secrets in the life sciences, software, and other industries is invaluable, and enables us to ferret out the most advantageous balance of the available types of intellectual property protection.
Trade secret licensing is a core skill in any number of technology transactions. From early-stage research collaborations to global alliances to develop and commercialize products, Covington attorneys have relied on both their distinctive technological skills and industry expertise to craft licenses permitting full and careful control of trade secret licensing. We also have considerable expertise in negotiating and drafting non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other kinds of confidentiality agreements to enable our clients to determine whether third party collaborations or licenses are in their commercial interest.
Our multi-disciplinary approach allows us to draw upon the strengths of our practices in patents, insurance, and privacy (among others) in advising clients on trade secret matters. In addition, our experience extends to matters involving the federal Economic Espionage Act, with its criminal penalties for trade secret misappropriation (and the complexities of parallel civil and criminal proceedings). We are well-versed in the challenges, opportunities, and costs of electronic discovery, and have crafted and implemented strategies to handle it economically and strategically, as well as to take advantage of our adversaries’ efforts to abuse it. Covington has also been particularly successful in developing and pursuing, as well as defending, trade secret cases arising out of patent infringement and antitrust litigation. In addition, our trade secret litigators work closely with Covington lawyers who have negotiated non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements and counseled enterprises on how to protect their proprietary information. We also work closely with lawyers on our employment practice in instances in which the trade secret misappropriation threat is from within.
Representative Matters
- Representation of Huawei Technologies in trade secret lawsuits against Motorola Solutions involving wireless base station technology; obtained a preliminary injunction preventing the transfer of confidential information in the context of a corporate acquisition and an award of licensing fees.
- Representation of Monsanto Company in antitrust/contact litigation concerning genetically modified crops, pesticides, and herbicides in which the case settled favorably to our client shortly after we asserted trade secret misappropriation counterclaims.
- For credit data specialist The Credit Index, we negotiated an elaborate trade secret-based transaction with Riskwise (now part of Lexis/Nexis) for use of TCI’s proprietary data and methodologies.
- Representation of Computational Dynamics North America in a trade secret, unfair competition, and tortious interference suit brought by ANSYS in the District of New Hampshire and then in the First Circuit, resulting in ANSYS dismissing its case with prejudice.
- Representation of Hewlett-Packard in a trade secret case involving electronic design automation (EDA) technology, which was resolved favorably for our client.
- Representation of OPNET Technologies in a patent infringement case in the Eastern District of Michigan that settled favorably after our introduction of trade secret counterclaims.
- Representation of Applied Security in Fairfax County Circuit Court trade secret and employee agreement contract dispute.
- Representation of Molecular Analytical Systems, Inc. in Santa Clara County Superior Court in contract and trade secret litigation concerning surface enhanced laser desorption ionization technology.
- Representation of Caliper Life Sciences in which we secured a $52 million jury verdict of trade secret misappropriation in California state court related to microfluidics technology. Two related patent infringement cases settled shortly thereafter on terms favorable to our client.
Accolades
The National Law Journal - Recognized on the Intellectual Property Hot List (2012)
- Legal 500 US - Multiple attorneys recognized for Trade Secrets (2012)
- Chambers USA - America's Leading Business Lawyers (2012)
- International Trade (Nationwide) (firm):
- CFIUS Experts (Nationwide) (two attorneys individually recognized)
- Export Controls & Economic Sanctions (three attorneys individually recognized)
- FCPA Experts (one attorney individually recognized)
- Intellectual Property (Section 337) (firm and two attorneys individually recognized)
- Trade Remedies & Trade Policy (two attorneys individually recognized)
- Intellectual Property (Nationwide) (firm)
- Patent (CA) (three attorneys individually recognized)
- IP (DC) (firm and two attorneys individually recognized)
- Litigation (DC) (firm and two attorneys individually recognized)
- Chambers Europe - Recognized as a leading firm in Intellectual Property (Belgium) and one attorney individually recognized (2012)
- Chambers Global (2012)
- Data Protection (Global-wide)
- Intellectual Property (USA) (firm and two attorneys individually recognized)
- International Trade (USA):
- CFIUS Experts (firm and two attorneys individually recognized)
- Export Controls & Economic Sanctions (firm and three attorneys individually recognized)
- FCPA Experts (one attorney individually recognized)
- Intellectual Property (Section 337) (firm and two attorneys individually recognized)
- Trade Remedies & Trade Policy (two attorneys individually recognized)
- International Trade/WTO (Recognized as a leading firm in the Asia Pacific Region, Belgium, China, Europe-wide, and Global-wide) (four attorneys individually recognized)
- The Best Lawyers in America - Six attorneys recognized for Intellectual Property Law (2007-2013).
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