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May 1, 2019Zach Wolfe, Paul T. Freeman

Trade Secrets 101: What Texas Businesses and Their Lawyers Need to Know

First, if a business wants to preserve the ability to sue for misappropriation of tradesecrets, it needs to take “reasonable measures” to maintain the confidentiality of the informationthat constitutes the alleged trade secrets. This is only what businesses need to do from a legal perspective. There are many otherpractical things businesses can do, but that’s more a topic for security experts than legal experts

June 1, 2016Rebecca Todd

What is the Scope and Effect of the Copyright Act’s Preemption of a State Law Claim For Theft or Misappropriation of Trade Secrets? What Evidence is Insufficient to Avoid Summary Judgment in Favor of the Defendant?

Spear Mktg. v. BancorpSouth Bank, 791 F.3d 586 (5th Cir. 2015)

November 1, 2013Joseph F. Cleveland, Jr., J. Heath Coffman

The Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act

In this past legislative session, the Texas Legislature enacted the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“TUTSA”). On September 1, 2013, Texas will join 46 other states that are currently governed by some form of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Before enactment of TUTSA, Texas had no central law governing trade secrets. Instead,Texas law on trade secrets was cobbled together from Texas common law, the Restatement of Torts, the Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition, and the Texas Theft Liability Act. Much of this law was outdated (the Restatement of Torts was drafted in 1939) and was simply not designed for the technological developments of the modern era. As a result, Texas businesses and those businesses looking to expand to Texas were left to guess as to what proprietary information Texas law would and would not protect. TUTSA codifies and modernizes Texas law on misappropriation of trade secrets by providing a simple legislative framework for litigating trade secret cases. Among other things, TUTSA provides an unambiguous and updated definition of trade secrets, a simplified means for obtaining injunctive relief and sealing court records, and an attorneys’ fees provision for recovering fees from those parties who engage in willful and malicious activity.What follows is a section by section analysis of TUTSA. Section 134A.002 of TUTSA contains a list of six new definitions, including definitions for “trade secret,”“misappropriation,” “improper means,” “proper means,” and “reverse engineering.”

November 7, 2014Ronald Chichester

Computer and Internet Update for the Business Owner and Lawyer

The cybersecurity landscape has changed significantly within the last five years. A high-quality malicious virus, developed by the United States government, was unleashed against computer- controlled machines operating within Iranian nuclear facilities. 2 In so doing, however, the virus became available "in the wild" and was subsequently reversed engineered by hackers and organized crime syndicates. Although illegal, source code for that virus is available (along with others) on the Internet for as little as $400. For a few hundred dollars more, you can get a support contract for the malware. What this means for business owners and their lawyers is that the cost-of-entry for "hacking" is now quite low, and the potential payoff is still high. In short, hacking companies has been automated and is now a commodity industry. Interestingly, however, is the motivation for recent hacks against U.S. companies. It appears that part of the rationale for penetrating U.S. companies is political. 3 Political implications aside, the two huge security breaches suffered by Target and Home Depot were committed by the same malware program, and in the case of Target, the malware was inserted into Target's computer system through a trusted HVAC vendor who had poor security measures. Law firms are now considered prime targets for criminals because they tend not to have as stringent security measures as their clients, and the information contained within the law firm is of particularly high quality. Moreover, like Target's HVAC vendor, law firms are viewed as a conduit to the heart of their client's operations. For hackers, law firms are doubly useful.

November 8, 2013Ronald Chichester

Keeping Client Data and Your Law License Secure

The practice of law has changed dramatically since the days of carbon paper, fax machines, and dusty libraries. Today, an attorney’s computer contains everything needed to manage a law firm’s entire business including the confidential and proprietary data of the firm and its clients, the equivalent of complete file rooms and libraries of documents and data. With laptops, attorneys travel everywhere with thousands of file drawers of information. Unfortunately, power and portability provide opportunities for loss of client data. This article will highlight the facts and figures of data breaches, the data and information impacted, the ethics and attorney duties to protect the information, the penalties for disclosure, and some practical tips on protecting the information.

December 31, 1969Newsletter Committee

Fall, 2014

Includes articles on: "Texas Supreme Court’s Recent Shareholder Oppression Opinions Reaffirm Primacy of Common Law Fiduciary Duties Under Gearhart" by Byron Egan and Michael L. Laussade; "Texas Pattern Jury Charge on Trade Secret Misappropriation Near Completion" by Joe Cleveland; "What Happened to TrueCrypt?" by Ron Chichester; and "Judicial CLE Committee Update: Helping Strengthen Texas" by Evan Young.

December 31, 1969Newsletter Committee

Fall, 2014