Prosecuting and Defending Matters
A company’s most valuable assets often include its intellectual property, and those employees entrusted with its intellectual property. Intellectual property protection is particularly important in California, Washington and Arizona. Buchalter has a deep bench of skilled trial lawyers who focus on prosecuting and defending trade secret and employee mobility matters.
Buchalter attorneys also handle multi-jurisdictional litigation matters involving companies that have hired out-of-state employees who are subject to restrictive covenants. We also represent parties seeking to enforce or defend against restrictive covenants that are incident to the sale of corporations, partnerships, and LLCs.
We represent employers who have been accused of trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and employee raiding.
Buchalter’s team has extensive experience litigating disputes under:
- The Uniform Trade Secrets Act
- The Defend Trade Secrets Act
- The Unfair Competition Law, Business and Professions Code, section 17200
- California’s Business & Professions Code sections 16600 and 16601
- California’s intellectual property assignment provisions
- California Penal Code section 502
- California’s employee duty loyalty provisions
- Washington’s noncompetition statute, RCW 49.62, et seq.
- Oregon’s noncompetition statute, ORS 653.295
Trusted Advisors
We also prepare and update non-disclosure agreements, intellectual property assignment provisions, and non-solicitation covenants. We advise clients on how to protect against the theft of their intellectual property from both external and internal threats. Our experience counseling companies across many industries and jurisdictions includes:
- Reviewing confidentiality agreements and restrictive covenants;
- Counseling regarding the specifics and best practices to avoid trade secret misappropriation claims;
- Strategic counseling for hiring of a competitor’s employees; and
- Designing and implementing effective information security programs and policies to limit and prevent the loss of electronic data.
Representative Litigation Matters
- Represented a financial institution in trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition and employee raiding case. Obtained a preliminary injunction and permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from doing business with any person or entity solicited by use of client’s confidential data, and a $47 million settlement in favor of the client.
- Represented global pharmaceutical company in 8 week jury trial in which 20% of its national sales force left for a competitor in one day allegedly taking with them trade secret information.
- Represented company in the title industry in a trade secret misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition and employee raiding case. Obtained a preliminary injunction, and after a 3-1/2 month jury trial, obtained a multi-million dollar award in favor of client, including an order requiring defecting employees to repay portions of wages and bonuses received while engaging in unfair competition.
- Prosecuted trade secret claims on behalf of insurance brokerage against a former producer and new employer resulting in a seven figure settlement.
- Defended corporate client in the venture capital field against alleged trade secret and unfair competition claims in multi-jurisdictional matter resulting in settlement favorable to the defendants.
- Defended food manufacturing industry client in claims brought by former independent contractor and raised counter-claims for trade secret misappropriation resulting in favorable settlement to client.
- Represented corporate client in the prosecution of a trade secret and unfair competition case and obtained a preliminary injunction which required immediate turnover of misappropriated data, a prohibition on doing business with customers through the use of client’s confidential data, and requiring the defendants to cooperate in correcting misleading statements which implied the defendants were a continuation of, or affiliated with client’s business.
- Represented inventor in biomedical device field accused of violating intellectual property assignment clause and of disclosing trade secrets. Obtained favorable settlement after moving for summary adjudication.
- Represented staffing firm in bitterly hard-fought litigation against former employees who left and allegedly downloaded information. Obtained preliminary injunction and arrived at mediated settlement.
