Articles Posted in Trade Secrets

Businesses sometimes suffer from disloyal employees who misappropriate trade secrets and confidential information, diverting them to competitors. Such unfair competition can be addressed through contractual claims based on non-compete agreements as well as claims for trade secret misappropriation. Because Florida’s restrictive covenant statute, Florida Statutes Section 542.335, provides strong remedies for businesses, including obtaining a…

Under Florida’s version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Florida Statutes Section 688.002(b)(4), a “trade secret” means information, including a formula, pattern, program, device, method, technique, or process that: (a) Derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who…

Under Florida’s non-compete statute, Florida Statutes Section 542.335(1)(b), “[t]he person seeking enforcement of a restrictive covenant shall plead and prove the existence of one or more legitimate business interests justifying the restrictive covenant.” The term “legitimate business interest” includes trade secrets (as defined in Florida Statutes Section 688.002(4)) and “valuable confidential business or professional information.”…

Under the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act as well as the Uniform Trade Secret Act adopted by many states, unauthorized use of trade secret information and unauthorized acquisition or disclosure of trade secret information may constitute misappropriation. The legal concept of “misappropriation” includes not only the wholesale pirating of an idea, but also the unauthorized…

Under Florida law, a “trade secret” must be a “secret” to the extent it is not generally know, and where the owner has taken reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy. Florida law (at Section 688.002(4), Florida Statutes) defines a “trade secret” to mean “information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process…

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (sometimes referred to as the “CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1030, is a federal law that prohibits access a computer and obtaining information without authorization or by exceeding authorized access. The statute (at section 1030(a)(2)(C)) states that whoever “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorization and thereby obtains…

The State of Florida enacted Florida Statutes Section 542.335 to allow non-compete agreements where there is a “legitimate business interest.” Two frequently cited “legitimate business interests” are confidential information and trade secrets. In an employment context, a non-compete agreement based on “[v]aluable confidential business or professional information” (referenced in Florida Statutes Section 542.335(1)(b)(2)), Florida law…

Corporations typically rely on employees to handle and safeguard confidential business information, including trade secrets. Under Florida law, a business can seek protection contractually, most often a non-compete agreement, to restrict an employee or former employee from competing by joining a competitor’s business, starting a competing business, or facilitating competition by using confidential or trade…

To prove a claim under the Florida Uniform Trade Secrets, the plaintiff “must demonstrate that (1) it possessed a trade secret and (2) the secret was misappropriated.” Yellowfin Yachts, Inc. v. Barker Boatworks, LLC, 898 F.3d 1279 (11th Cir. 2018). Florida law defines a trade secret (at Florida Statutes § 688.002(4)) as information that: (a)…

Florida law contains an explicit privilege against disclosure of alleged trade secrets. This trade secret privilege is set forth in Florida Statutes Section 90.506, which states in pertinent part: “A person has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent other persons from disclosing, a trade secret owned by that person if the allowance…