Investigations & Compliance Consulting

Trade Secret Misappropriation

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We help clients identify and respond to alleged trade secret misappropriation, as well as assess potential vulnerabilities in company trade secret management and mitigate the risk of future misappropriation or infringement.

Trade secrets and related know-how can be among the most difficult assets to protect, and theft or misappropriation can pose reputational risks to the affected company. While not all trade secrets are the same, certain trade secret matters can lead to lengthy and expensive legal battles with significant economic damages at risk. Our team provides guidance in trade secret theft investigations; helps to monitor suspected wrongdoing; and offers litigation support, calculation of financial damages, and expert witness testimony in claims of trade secret misappropriation.

OUR SERVICES
  • Countermeasures & Internal Policy Guidance
  • Evaluations in Support of (or Rebuttal to) Monetary Recovery from Trade Secret Misappropriation
  • Expert Witness Testimony & Litigation Support
  • Identify, Verify & Assess Trade Secret Theft Claims
  • Mitigation of Risk to Operations
  • Retrieval of Trade Secrets Guidance
  • Trade Secret Management Guidance
  • Trade Secret Valuation
Our Subject Matter Experts
  • Business Intelligence Consultants
  • Certified Financial Analysts (CFAs)
  • Certified in Financial Forensics (CFFs)
  • Certified Licensing Professionals (CLPs)
  • Certified Public Accountants (CPAs)
  • Certified Valuation Analysts (CVAs)
  • Compliance, Sanctions & Regulatory Experts
  • Computer Forensics Experts
  • Cyber Security & Investigations Experts
  • Data Analysts
  • Dispute Advisory Experts
  • Financial Crime Investigators
  • Forensic Accountants
  • Forensic Economists
  • Former Prosecutors & Law Enforcement
  • Information Governance Experts
  • Risk Advisory & Compliance Experts
  • Security & Risk Management Consultants
  • Technology Consultants
Trade Secret Theft Investigations

Our team utilizes open-source intelligence and discreet inquiries to discover, verify, and assess allegations of trade secret theft and IP infringement. The findings of these investigations are then used to determine appropriate corrective action and advise affected parties of remediation steps necessary to prevent future theft and infringement.

Our well-established network of industry, law enforcement, and regulatory contacts across global jurisdictions, plus wide-ranging language capabilities, enable us to carry out investigations across borders. Our experts have advised on investigations of suspected theft of trade secrets, product counterfeiting committed by ex-employees, and counseled clients on brand protection issues within specific jurisdictional contexts.

Trade Secret Monitoring

Our team implements ongoing and discreet monitoring, including on-site visits to warehouses, company addresses, and shopfronts to ascertain suspected trade secret theft and IP infringement. We assist clients in putting in safeguards that determine whether employees or competitors are attempting to misappropriate their trade secrets.

Trade Secret Risk Management

Our experts offer risk management solutions for trade secrets that address security, compliance, and documentation of prior use. We provide solutions to the challenges that trade secret owners face, including identifying their most valuable knowledge, monitoring and testing the measures to protect their trade secrets, identifying corresponding vulnerabilities, and providing executive decision tools and actionable recommendations for mitigating those vulnerabilities. We also provide solutions that enhance the management of data through our analytical processes and expertise.

Additionally, we provide managers and line employees with on-site, best practices training to protect the company’s secrets and further the company’s overall trade secret program.

Trade Secret Litigation & Dispute Consulting

We provide specialized guidance for legal proceedings in matters of trade secret theft, including documenting suspected violations and attempts at obfuscation over time and advising on regulatory issues related to the jurisdiction in which a suspected IP violation has occurred.

All IP disputes, and particularly those involving trade secrets, include complex economic issues which must be clearly communicated to judges and juries. Our team understands that trade secret remedies and the method of calculation can differ from other forms of IP, and that the state-of-the-art in this regard continues to evolve based on case law which is often unique to a given jurisdiction. Examples of such differences can include:

  • Calculations of actual loss and unjust enrichment
  • The appropriateness of incremental versus fully allocated cost determinations
  • A reasonable royalty measure of damages based on, e.g., modified Georgia-Pacific factors

We assist counsel in the litigation process by performing accounting, financial, economic, and audit reviews and preparing corresponding presentation analyses and expert reports. In addition to expert testimony, we help counsel with respect to all litigation phases through trial, including discovery and document management, deposition and cross-examination assistance, and exhibit preparation. We provide consultation services to determine both liability and damages issues for misappropriation of trade secrets.

 
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