Practice

Trade Secrets

Protecting Innovation with Strategic Trade Secret Counsel

Sheppard’s Trade Secrets lawyers help businesses safeguard their most sensitive information, minimize risk of loss and prevent misappropriation to preserve their competitive advantage.  

We craft and help implement strategies to protect, enforce and maximize the value of proprietary assets within today's dynamic business environment. 

Safeguarding Your Competitive Edge

Our Trade Secrets team is a collaboration among our intellectual property, litigation, labor and employment and corporate practices, which come together to develop and implement cross-disciplinary creative strategies designed to protect innovation, preserve competitive advantage, limit or enable employee mobility and defend against competitive threats. 


Our lawyers combine legal knowledge, industry insight and creative problem-solving to help clients protect and develop their most valuable assets. 

We develop tailored strategies to prevent misappropriation, enforce rights and defend against claims that could disrupt operations. Our counseling and advice services include: 

  • Assessing trade secret versus patent protection 
  • Creating protection policies 
  • Conducting audits 
  • Counseling concerning competitive intelligence gathering 
  • Preparing NDAs 
  • Tailoring restrictive covenants pursuant to jurisdiction-specific laws 
  • Developing hiring strategies and negotiating agreements for the use, creation, licensing and ownership of confidential business information 
  • On-site training to prevent the release of sensitive information by government agencies 

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Areas of Focus

Labor and Employment
Our Labor and Employment lawyers help employers protect what sets them apart. We litigate all types of restrictive covenant and trade secret matters – whether our clients are facing employee departures, have hired new employees, have competitor threats or urgent irreparable harm, we act quickly to safeguard your business.
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Commercial Litigation
Sheppard’s seasoned litigators resolve complex, high-stakes business disputes with clarity and courtroom-tested strategy, minimizing risk and disruption for industry leaders across sectors. Clients count on our deep trial experience and adaptive approach for smart, effective representation in critical commercial litigation matters nationwide—delivering results aligned with business objectives, from early negotiation to verdict.
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Experience

Representative Matters

Litigation

Our attorneys handle trade secret cases in state and federal courts across the country.  Representative matters include:

  • Persuaded Ninth Circuit to reverse summary judgment against client of its claim for misappropriation of trade secrets related to its system for tracking securities trading on the grounds that (1) a reasonable jury could have found information that the client had identified as trade secrets were in fact trade secrets and (2) trial court should have permitted client an opportunity to take discovery before ruling on the summary judgment motion.
  • Representing scientific research plaintiff in action against biopharmaceutical company for fraud, breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets related to medical compound development.
  • Defeated effort in Delaware Chancery Court by biotech company to enjoin client’s use of lentiviral vectors in clinical trials for cancer treatment based on claim that use by both companies of common manufacturer violated plaintiff’s contractual exclusivity with manufacturer and purportedly enabled client to misappropriate plaintiff’s claimed trade secrets.
  • Prosecuted state court action in Maryland to protect trade secrets and enforce non-competition agreement in connection with genetic therapy techniques.
  • Represented one of the world’s largest frozen food manufacturers for the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets contained in frozen food products.  Obtained dismissal with prejudice of the complaint, which sought millions of dollars in damages.  Decision was affirmed on appeal, and recovered an attorney’s fees award in favor of our client.
  • Defended trade secret misappropriation enforcement case in federal court in Delaware involving snack food product formulation information.
  • Represented national manufacturing company in an unfair competition, trade secret, and employee raiding case, which resulted in a preliminary injunction in favor of client against a former employee and competitor.
  • Represented financial management firm in jury trial in multi-million dollar trade secret, unfair competition, and corporate raiding case. The jury returned a defense verdict, finding no liability.
  • Successfully defeated motion for temporary restraining order filed against our client, a national insurance broker, and two of its newly hired employees for enforcement of restrictive covenants and claims of trade secret misappropriation with less than twenty-four hours’ notice, such that the court denied every aspect of the proposed temporary restraining order.
  • Obtained consent judgment for aerospace company in trade secret case against misappropriator shortly after deposing defendant.
  • Represented prime defense contractor against a subcontractor’s claims for trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract related to certain weapons systems.  Case settled favorably on the eve of trial.
  • Represented geospatial solutions provider in trade secrets misappropriation case, which resulted in a widespread temporary restraining order sidelining departing employees and preventing misappropriation.
  • Represented office supply manufacturer in a three-month jury trial in which a competitor sought damages for trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition.  The jury returned a defense verdict, finding no misappropriation.  The case settled on appeal.
  • Represented national healthcare company in a non-compete and trade secret case, which resulted in a temporary restraining order against our client’s former employee and competitor.
  • Secured an indefinite temporary restraining order on behalf of a national security services firm against five defendants prohibiting the use or disclosure of confidential information and imposing strict prohibitions on solicitation of employees and customers in a restrictive covenant and trade secrets case.
  • Obtained restraining order on behalf of client against competitor and former employee prohibiting solicitation of employees and customers in a restrictive covenant and trade secrets case.
  • Secured complete and immediate dismissal of declaratory judgment action against client by competitor and five former employees seeking declaration that restrictive covenants were unenforceable.
  • Successfully dissolved ex parte temporary restraining order issued against client and newly hired employee for enforcement of a restrictive covenant.
  • Obtained temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against former employee and competitor on behalf of a national security services firm in a non-compete case.
  • Represented national software development company in a non-compete and employee raiding case, which resulted in a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the client’s former employees and competitor.
  • Obtained temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against client’s former executives and their current employer on behalf of a publicly traded homewares retailer in a trade secrets case.
  • Represented finance company in federal court proceeding against former employee and competitor for misappropriation in connection with methods, processes and pricing strategies for regulatory compliance software product.
  • Successfully resolved trade secret misappropriation and non-competition enforcement claims by private, for-profit education provider.
  • Represented entertainment business in an arbitration between its employee and his former employer which claimed the employee misappropriated its trade secret information for our client’s business. The matter settled favorably for our client and its employee.

Counseling and Advice

We routinely counsel clients on issues outside of litigation. Matters have included:

  • Advised client of potential measures they could implement to reduce the risk of misappropriation of its trade secret information.
  • Offered strategy recommendations to client to reduce likelihood that the other member of its failed joint venture would assert misappropriation claims against it.
  • Proposed modifications to a client’s standard NDA to better protect the client’s trade secrets and to limit unwarranted misappropriation claims against the client.
  • Advised client how to decrease the risk of misappropriation claims by a competitor in connection with the client’s acquisition of a business that sold the competitor’s products.
  • Overhauled client’s employee materials (form employee agreement, employee handbook) to improve the client’s ability to enforce its trade secret rights.
  • Guided client in its response to a competitor’s incorrect assertion that the client misappropriated the competitor’s confidential information to obtain a customer’s business.
  • Develop trade secret protection programs, including
  •  Advised client of potential measures they could implement to reduce the risk of misappropriation of its trade secret information.
    • Policies and practices to protect confidential information, such as security measures to prevent “hacking” into electronic files;
    • Screening processes to ensure that competitive hires do not violate the rights of prior employers;
    • Assessment of legal risks of proposed competitive hires, and strategies for avoiding disputes;
    • Training managers to enforce company policies to protect confidential information;
    • Educating employees about the importance of protecting the company’s trade secrets, including how to protect them and monitor for perceiving misappropriation;
    • Use of appropriate restrictive covenants and NDAs;
    • Exit protocols to reinforce with departing employees their continuing legal obligations; and
    • Responding to perceived or potential misappropriation.
  • Advised on “best practices” to address concern that a misappropriation claim may be asserted (e.g., implement “clean room” and reverse engineering protocols).
  • Counseled client on appropriate remediation and other potential responses to the discovery of a potential misappropriation incident (e.g., an employee used a former employer’s trade secrets).
  • Advocate on behalf of clients to persuade government agencies not to release trade secret information to members of the public who requested access.

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