What May Lie Ahead For ITC Trade Secret Claims

Daniel Muino and Caroline Pohl authored an article for Law360 discussing the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) decision in the Certain Bone Cements and Bone Cement Accessories investigation, which clarified the standard for evaluating whether a respondent misappropriated a trade secret through use or disclosure, and what may lie ahead for future trade secret claims.

“The ITC held in Bone Cements that a complaint must show substantial use or disclosure of a trade secret in order to prove misappropriation, rather than merely any use,” the authors wrote. “Although this standard applies to all trade secrets, it is particularly pertinent to compilation trade secrets – like those at issue in Bone Cements – that encompass some publicly known or readily ascertainable information.”

They added: “The decision in Bone Cements is the latest word from the ITC on the law of trade secret misappropriation. As more employees have switched jobs in recent years amid the Great Resignation, a surge in trade secret claims at the ITC may lie in the near future, and their outcome could turn on the Bone Cements standard.”

Read the full article.