Contact:
Rick Bergstrom or
Daniel P. Westman
The most valuable assets of a company typically include its intellectual property (“IP”) and confidential information, and
the employees entrusted with this information. Both IP and employees can be highly mobile. Morrison & Foerster regularly advises
clients on how to protect against the theft of their IP from both external and internal threats by implementing trade secret
protection and information security programs. Often, trade secret protection includes employee agreements and/or proprietary
information agreements, which contain restrictive covenants (e.g., non-competition, non-solicitation and non-disclosure agreements). In today’s global economy, we assist clients in tailoring
the appropriate restrictive covenants under laws which vary widely by state and international jurisdictions. With the proliferation
of technology in the workplace, we also train clients to design and implement effective information security programs and
policies to prevent intentional or inadvertent loss of data.
When emergencies arise, Morrison & Foerster’s team of trade secret litigators have the experience to handle any trade secret
matter. Among the firm’s expert trade secret lawyers is James Pooley, who is the author of the highly regarded treatise Trade Secrets (Law Journal Press). The firm frequently litigates cases involving misappropriation of trade secrets, the Computer Fraud
& Abuse Act, restrictive covenants, employee raiding, customer raiding, and departures of key employees. Our litigators are
often in court seeking or defending against emergency relief including temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions,
as well as trying cases to juries, judges, and arbitrators. The Morrison & Foerster team has litigated some of the most significant
trade secret cases in California and the U.S. In 2007 and 2008, The Legal 500 US recognized the firm for its cutting-edge work in the area of employee mobility and trade secrets.
Representative Matters
Aerospace Manufacturer. We represented an aerospace manufacturer in a trade secret matter filed against a former employee and his subsequent employer,
one of our client's primary competitors. After announcing his resignation, the 28-year employee stole vital company trade
secrets by emailing documents from his corporate email address to his personal email address. The employee then attempted
to cover his tracks by deleting the email messages from his sent items folder on the company network. Based primarily on computer
forensic evidence, we were able to obtain a temporary restraining order against the former employee as well as the company's
competitor, requiring preservation of all evidence and the return of the trade secret information, and prohibiting further
use or distribution. We subsequently obtained evidence indicating the employee had copied the entire contents of his company
laptop onto an external hard drive prior to his resignation. The competitor terminated the employee, a permanent injunction
was entered by the court, and we settled the case on terms very favorable to our client.
INPUT. We obtained temporary injunction in favor of employer against employee alleged to have misappropriated trade secrets.
National Mortgage Company. This case involved cross-actions by competitors in the home mortgage lending industry arising out of raiding of client’s
employees by company founded by client’s former executive. Each side claimed unfair competition and other torts. The case
settled on very satisfactory terms for our client after three weeks of an expected eight-week trial.
ObjectVideo. We obtained temporary injunction in favor of employer against two former employees alleged to have breached non-competition
agreements, misappropriated trade secrets and violated Virginia’s civil conspiracy statute.
Trinity Information Management Systems, Inc. We obtained temporary injunction in favor of employer against two former employees alleged to have breached their fiduciary
duties, misappropriated trade secrets and violated Virginia’s civil conspiracy statute.
