In today’s digital age, with more employees working remotely and leaving their former employers for new opportunities, companies are facing new, advancing, and ever evolving trade secret and restrictive covenant challenges. We are here to help.
Securing a company’s information and protecting its legitimate business interests are more crucial than ever. Without these protections, customer lists can be stolen and misused, product designs usurped and implemented by a competitor, pricing margins and strategic plans made publicly available, sophisticated algorithms and source code improperly downloaded and misappropriated, and other confidential data absconded with and then turned against the company. Thus, the failure to understand, navigate, and confront the depth of these challenges can cause the loss of valuable trade secrets, significant business harm, unwanted media attention, and potential breach of fiduciary duty allegations against management.
Benesch’s Trade Secrets, Restrictive Covenants, and Unfair Competition Group consists of attorneys from across the country and multiple practice groups (Labor & Employment, Litigation, and Corporate) who understand the importance of protecting a company’s valuable information and business interests. Combined, group members have over 100 years of experience in handling trade secret, restrictive covenant, and unfair competition matters. Two attorneys in the group have been ranked among the top 10 most active trade secret litigation lawyers in the country by Lex Machina’s 2024 Trade Secret Litigation Report. The group works collaboratively to share best practices, stay abreast of and exchange information on legal developments, and learn industry-specific information that enables them to maximize expertise and value when working to address and meet a client’s needs and goals. Many of the attorneys in the Trade Secrets, Restrictive Covenants, and Unfair Competition Group are nationally recognized as leading authorities in this area, and commonly write and speak about these matters before bar groups, business organizations, and governmental bodies. They also assist both state and federal legislators in drafting restrictive covenant and trade secret statutes.
The group organizes members around clients so that each client is comfortable with the consistency of representation, and the members are familiar with clients’ needs, goals, and business. We also keep clients apprised of significant changes in state and federal law, and regularly conduct no-cost “information sessions” with our clients in order to keep them up to speed on recent legal opinions and statutes that may affect their operations, activities, and trade secrets.
Trade Secret Consulting
Recent studies estimate that publicly traded companies own approximately $5 trillion in trade secrets. Studies also show that the economic loss from trade secret theft is between $209 billion and $600 billion. No company is immune from trade secret theft, and Chief Executive Officers and corporate boards are looking to their in-house legal departments and outside counsel to help create and implement policies that maximize the protection of trade secrets and reduce the likelihood of trade secret theft.
Unlike most law firms, Benesch’s Trade Secrets, Restrictive Covenants, and Unfair Competition Group understands the importance of trade secret protection and, as such, has developed packages and programs that are specifically designed to help minimize the risk of trade secret theft and allow clients to receive the full value of trade secret protection. These packages and programs apply regardless of whether the thief is a disgruntled employee, a former business partner, or a competitor.
Some of the services Benesch provides for its clients, from small businesses to Fortune 50 companies, include:
When necessary, group members also work with other Benesch departments and groups, such as the Data Protection and Privacy Group, in conducting forensic analysis to help design trade secret protection programs.
Litigation Services
We understand that there are times when litigation is necessary to protect a client’s trade secrets and legitimate business interests, or to fend off unwarranted claims of trade secret misappropriation or restrictive covenant violations. When this happens, and knowing that speed is key in these types of cases, the experienced team of trial lawyers in Benesch’s Trade Secrets, Restrictive Covenants, and Unfair Competition Group—lawyers who have litigated trade secret and restrictive covenant matters throughout the United States—jump into action by working with the client and forensic specialists to gather and preserve evidence, notify and work with relevant state and federal authorities, and file (or defend against) actions in state and federal court that seek temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, expedited discovery, and permanent injunctions. Not surprisingly then, Benesch’s Trade Secret, Restrictive Covenants, and Unfair Competition Group has obtained and defeated temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and permanent injunctions in state and federal courts located throughout the country, as well as in arbitration and alternative dispute resolution venues (such as FINRA).
Group members also understand the importance of recovering monetary and noneconomic damages in trade secret and restrictive covenant cases and, as a result, have obtained substantial trade secret and restrictive covenant jury verdicts on behalf of their clients. These successes have occurred in a wide range of industries, and for all sizes of companies, including, but not limited to, securities, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and products, transportation, e-commerce, financial services, retail banking, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, transportation, brokerage, real estate, and consumer goods. Not surprisingly, we also have an advanced understanding of the legal issues that recur from case to case, such as:
Knowing that time equals money in trade secret and restrictive covenant cases, Benesch’s Trade Secrets, Restrictive Covenants, and Unfair Competition Group is skilled at quickly and aggressively obtaining injunctive relief in time-sensitive situations. Indeed, the fact that our dedicated team members are intimately familiar with companies and their respective industries sets us apart from our competitors.
It also allows us the ability to seek enforcement of trade secret protections or restrictive covenants in a fast and efficient manner. Such activities include:
What we do
We provide trade secret and restrictive covenant consulting and litigation expertise and advice for clients throughout the United States.
Why we do it
We believe that in today’s business environment, companies need to understand and use all tools at their disposal to protect against trade secret misappropriation, corporate espionage, and losses that stem from the breach of company agreements and policies.
We build strategic partnerships with our clients to place them in the best position possible to protect their legitimate business interests and meet their corporate needs.
How we do it
We work with our clients to develop creative programs and protections that are designed to monitor and prevent trade secret theft, constantly updating our clients on the latest changes to restrictive covenant and trade secret laws, and, when necessary, engaging in offensive or defensive litigation that protects our clients’ trade secrets, relationships, and legitimate business interests.