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Kirin K. Gill

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Following President Obama’s signing of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA” or the “Act”) into law last week, parties are beginning to file lawsuits asserting claims under the DTSA. As widely reported, before the DTSA’s enactment, civil trade secret legislation was solely a creature of state law.  Consequently, absent another basis for federal jurisdiction, parties could only bring a civil trade secret claim in state court. The DTSA dramatically changed trade secret litigation practice by opening the door to federal court through creation of a federal civil trade secret misappropriation cause of action.

Application of the DTSA, however, is not retroactive. By the express language of the Act, it only applies to acts of misappropriation occurring on or after May 11, 2016, the date on which it was enacted.
Continue Reading First Round of Defend Trade Secrets Act Complaints Alleging Misappropriation Activity Both Before and After DTSA’s Enactment: Will They Stick?

On December 17, 2015, Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas awarded attorneys’ fees under 35 U.S.C. section 285 to defendants in a set of consolidated patent lawsuits initiated by eDekka LLC. 12/17 Order at 1. A prolific patent assertion entity, eDekka filed more than 200 lawsuits in 2014 and 2015 in the Eastern District of Texas, asserting a single patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,266,674, against numerous online retailers. eDekka claimed that these retailers had infringed the ’674 patent by offering a “shopping cart feature” on their e-commerce websites. The court had issued an earlier order September 21, 2015, in which it found the ’674 patent invalid for claiming unpatentable subject matter under Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014).  9/21 Order at 1. The September 21, 2015 order formed the basis for the court’s December 17 ruling awarding attorneys’ fees.
Continue Reading In a First, E.D. Tex. Finds Plaintiff’s Massive Litigation Campaign Asserting Patent Invalid Under Alice ‘Exceptional,’ and Awards Defendants Attorneys’ Fees

For years, employers have sought access to federal courts for trade secret misappropriation claims against departing employees who have taken the employer’s proprietary information to use in a new venture or for a new employer. Absent diversity, employers’ options to secure federal jurisdiction were limited, however.

In the 2000s, employers began including claims under the…