Our unrivaled scientific and technical expertise, patent law specialization and our intellectual property, unfair business practice and trade secret litigation experience makes Townsend the best-positioned law firm to provide comprehensive protection—and enforcement—of mission critical trade secrets. Because litigation under the Uniform Trade Secret Act, adopted by most states, requires prompt, detailed specification of the trade secrets allegedly misappropriated, Townsend’s extensive legal-technical expertise in software, biochemistry, electronics, aviation, medical and other technology ensures that the appropriate technical competence will be immediately applied. Our similarly broad expertise in business tort law means that we will identify and assert all applicable legal theories and defenses associated with a trade secret misappropriation.
We provide comprehensive counseling and litigation services in the following areas:
- Development and implementation of corporate trade secret protection programs.
- Identification of corporate trade secrets.
- Employment and other confidentiality agreements.
- Software and other technology "clean room" practices necessary to avoid claims of infringement.
- Enforcement and defense of trade secret misappropriation claims.
- Civil litigation of the most complex trade secret misappropriation claims, across all industries.
- Forensic and other investigations of suspected system tampering.
- Pre-litigation counseling.
- Trade secret-related employment termination and business formation counseling.
- Coordinate criminal prosecutions and investigations, as well as contacting the appropriate legal authorities.
Townsend has extensive successful litigation and other trade secret counseling experience across all technical and business/financial areas, including, among others:
- Computer software and hardware
- Manufacturing processes
- Medical devices
- Aeronautics
- Computer games
- Agribusiness and technology
- Medical analytical equipment
- Semiconductor processing technology
- Food and beverage formulations
- Plant and seed genetics
- Product designs
- Business plans
- Financial information
- Customer lists and client relationship databases
- Employee solicitation
Recent representative matters include:
Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Bleem, Inc. Northern District of California. Townsend attorneys represented Sony in trade secret and software copyright infringement action involving computer games and software emulation products. Case settled prior to trial.
Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. et al. v. Connectix, Inc. Northern District of California. Townsend attorneys represented Sony in trade secret and software copyright infringement action involving computer games and software emulation products, successfully arguing that posting trade secret materials on the Internet did not deprive them of trade secret protection. Case settled favorably on the eve of trial.
Q.R. Spex v. frog design, Inc. Represented frog design in action for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets pertaining to wireless eyewear. Obtained summary judgment in favor of client.
MicroStrategy v Business Objects, Eastern District of Virginia. Alleged infringement of two database software patents, plus trade secret and other business tort claims. In the Virginia court, Townsend was successful in having one patent dismissed (essentially for failure to prosecute) and won a ruling on non-infringement on summary judgment in regard to the other. Townsend also was successful in dismissing most of the non-patent related claims. In November, 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Virginia court’s finding of non-infringement and rejection of virtually every one of the MicroStrategy business tort claims.
Fresh Express v. Ramsay, State Court, Monterey, CA. Townsend represented Fresh Express in trade secrets theft case for developer of patented crop harvesting machines against a manufacturer and developer of those machines regarding violation of nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and related disclosure of trade secrets.