It is a common mistake in trade secret litigation for the company seeking protection for its trade secrets to fail to explain what trade secrets it wishes to protect. Courts require that plaintiffs describe their trade secret with a certain degree of particularity. Failing to do that can be fatal to trade secret claims. Peter…
Continue reading ›Plaintiffs may be tempted to bring as many causes of action into a legal complaint that the facts may allow. Diversity of causes of action in business litigation can provide the plaintiff with different types of remedies and help a suit endure should a legal defect arise concerning any particular cause of action. However, cases…
Continue reading ›A previous article discussed how it is unlawful under the Florida Uniform Trade Secrets Act (FUTSA) to take a trade secret using “improper means.” As technology has developed, new methods of commercial reconnaissance can make it difficult to determine whether method was lawful acquisition or unlawful espionage. Peter Mavrick is a Fort Lauderdale business litigation…
Continue reading ›The Florida Uniform Trade Secrets Act (FUTSA) allows Florida businesses who have had their trade secrets misappropriated to seek damages or an injunction against the perpetrator of the misappropriation. For the acquisition to be an unlawful misappropriation, the confidential information must usually have been acquired through “improper means.” It is lawful for a Florida business…
Continue reading ›Trade secrets and confidential information can lose protection under the Florida Uniform Trade Secrets Act (FUTSA) when they are disclosed to third parties. One way to maintain protection of this information under FUTSA, is by entering into a confidentiality agreement with the third parties that will receive the information. When trade secrets or confidential information…
Continue reading ›For a trade secret to be protectable under Florida law, a business must protect that information as confidential. Disclosure of trade secret information to parties without an understanding that the information must be protected as confidential can cause that information to no longer be a protectable trade secret. In the absence of an express confidentiality…
Continue reading ›The Florida Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“FUTSA”) requires courts to take reasonable steps to preserve the secrecy of trade secrets. Fla. Stat. § 688.006. Injunctive relief may be ordered to preserve trade secrets based on actual or threatened misappropriation, as well as, compelling parties to perform specific acts. Fla. Stat. § 688.003. FUTSA, however, may…
Continue reading ›For a business to be to protect its confidential information as a protectable trade secrets under the Florida Uniform Trade Secret Act, the business must preserve the secrecy of its confidential information. There are no hard and fast rules that must be followed for a business to protect its confidential information as a trade secret.…
Continue reading ›Protection of trade secrets and proprietary information from a business’ competitors can be a critical part of owning a company. An injunction may become necessary to stop a competing company from possessing or using those trade secrets for their own benefit. The injunction, however, must be specific enough for the enjoined party to understand what…
Continue reading ›Plaintiffs in litigation often allege as many types of claims as are applicable to the facts of their case. This practice essentially allows a party to plead alternative claims for different types of relief based on the same nucleus of facts. Under Florida law, a trade secret claim may preempt, i.e. supersede or displace, pleading…
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