In the May issue of California Lawyer, it was reported that California leads the country in the volume of trade secret litigation. Citing a statistical analysis from the Gonzaga Law Review, California Lawyer indicated that 16 percent of the trade secret cases filed during the 14-year period examined were litigated in California, with the next closest state being Texas at 11 percent. Not surprisingly, in more than 90 percent of the cases studied, the person accused of stealing the trade secrets was an employee of the aggrieved company. Recent developments indicate that those employees may now face federal criminal charges for such activity in addition to civil lawsuits filed by their former employers.
Efforts to Protect Trade Secrets
Many employers attempt to protect their confidential information by requiring certain employees to sign agreements not to compete with the company should they leave. In California, however, those agreements are largely unenforceable. An exception to that general rule is when the court finds that the noncompetition clause is necessary to protect the employer’s trade secrets.
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