On Thursday, September 24, 2026, I will be speaking at the 25th edition of the Midwest IP Institute in Minneapolis on the panel, “25 Years That Changed IP: The Most Significant Developments of the Past Quarter Century and the Next Wave of Change” at 9:05 a.m. Felicia Boyd of Norton Rose Fulbright will be moderating
On Thursday, April 23, 2026 and Friday, April 24, 2026, I will be speaking at the AIPLA 2026 Trade Secret Summit at the Texas A&M Law Center in Fort Worth, Texas on two panels. On the Thursday panel, I will be joining Ben Fink of Berman Fink Van Horn P.C., Stephanie Southwick of Burford
Do three important decisions signal a trend? Well, they just might, particularly when they are considered with recent appellate decisions setting aside other runaway trade secret verdicts. Last month, the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the Virginia Court of Appeals’ reversal of Appian Software’s $2 billion verdict against its competitor Pegasystems, agreeing that the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury on the burden of proof for Appian’s unjust enrichment damages. This followed the December 8, 2025 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirming U.S. District Court Judge Sandra Lioi’s vacatur of a $63 million jury verdict against The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company because the plaintiffs failed to sufficiently identify several of their trade secrets. And most recently, on January 21, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen’s decision to vacate a $75 million jury verdict because the plaintiff Trinseo Europe elected not to apportion the damages for each of its trade secrets.
As I discuss below, those decisions are consistent with a growing number of other appellate and trial decisions critically examining the grounds giving rise to these mega-verdicts. So what is going on here? Read on to find out.
Continue Reading Three More Mammoth Trade Secret Verdicts Fail to Survive Appeal: The Trade Secret Litigator Reads the Tea Leaves (Part I)
For those looking for a comprehensive webinar on developments in trade secret and restrictive covenant law by experts from around the country, please join me for the first annual “Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants Symposium” for the Ohio State Bar Association on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 from 1:00 p.m. ET to 4:15 p.m. ET. Distinguished
Trade secret litigation is expensive. But trade secret owners often don’t have the resources to pay for the litigation necessary to protect their rights against a larger adversary with deeper pockets.
Enter: litigation funding.
Litigation funding can level the playing field and provide the resources necessary for the trade secret owner to recover damages and
Remedying the overseas misappropriation of U.S. companies’ trade secrets, particularly in China, was one of Congress’ core goals when it enacted the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) in 2016. But despite that goal, some district courts have wrestled over the extent to which the DTSA could apply to misconduct that occurred abroad. Now, in Motorola Sols., Inc. v. Hytera Commc’ns Corp. Ltd., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has resoundingly affirmed the extraterritorial reach of the DTSA, finding that worldwide sales of a product incorporating misappropriated trade secrets may be recoverable as damages. The Seventh Circuit has ruled that, under the DTSA, liability can accrue for acts committed wholly abroad if some act in furtherance of the misappropriation occurred in the U.S. In the Motorola case, the marketing of the product at trade shows in the U.S. was a sufficient act in furtherance of the overseas misappropriation for a damages award including sales from around the world.
Continue Reading Motorola v. Hytera: The Seventh Circuit Upholds Damages for Worldwide Sales under the Defend Trade Secrets Act
On Thursday, March 21, 2024, I will be speaking at the Defense Research Institute’s 2024 Business and Intellectual Property Litigation Super Conference on a panel, “Tips from the Trenches: Litigating and Trying Trade Secret Cases as a Plaintiff and Defendant, What Every Business Needs to Know,” with Ben Fink of Berman, Fink, Van Horn P.C.
On Thursday, March 14, 2024 and Friday, March 15, 2024, I will be speaking at the AIPLA 2024 Trade Secret Summit on three panels. The Trade Secret Summit has become one of the premiere trade secret law events, with thought leaders and trade secret experts meeting to debate and discuss key developments in trade secret
On Tuesday, January 30, 2024, I will be giving a one-hour Webinar/CLE for the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) entitled “Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Law Year in Review.”
As readers of this blog know, the number of trade secret and restrictive cases continues to grow each year. As a result, trade secret disputes and