Weekly IP Buzz for the Week Ending January 15, 2021
In this week's post, we see that the Ninth Circuit made a landmark decision in December 2020 when it decided that the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act can be extended to claims of trade secrets misappropriation that began before its 2016 enactment.
Plus, effective as of December 1, 2020, the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX) local patent rules for invalidity contentions have been amended.
Ninth Circuit Finds “Continued Use” Liability in DTSA Cases Allowing Retroactive Application
The Ninth Circuit made headlines last month when it decided, in Attia v. Google LLC, to allow a trade secrets claim for misappropriation apply retroactively despite the alleged misappropriation occurring before the 2016 enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), identifying a “continued use” provision for liability.
The 2016 DTSA, §18 U.S.C. 1836, et seq., allows the owners of trade secrets to bring lawsuits in federal court when misappropriation of a trade secret has occurred. The DTSA mirrors the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“UTSA”) closely and also extends the Economic Espionage Act, which criminalizes the misappropriation of certain trade secrets.
While most states have adopted the UTSA, the DTSA is notable for giving whistleblowers legal immunity under federal law and is considered to be one of the most important intellectual property laws to be passed this century. The first decision under the DTSA was Henry Schien, Inc. v. Cook, which was decided in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Read more here.
Amendments to EDTX Local Patent Rules on Invalidity Contentions
The Eastern District of Texas has amended its Local Patent Rules, effective December 1, 2020.
General Order 20-17 (http://www.txed.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/goFiles/EDTX%20GO%2020-17%20Amending%20Local%20Rules%20Final%20%28002%29.pdf).
Find the full article here.
Click to read the previous Weekly IP Buzz on Thriving Attorney.
For more posts, see our Intellectual Property Law Blog.
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In addition to publishing Thriving Attorney, Darin M. Klemchuk is founder of Klemchuk LLP, a litigation, intellectual property, and transactional law firm located in Dallas, Texas. Click to read more about Darin Klemchuk's practice as an intellectual property lawyer as well as IP mediation services. For more on the latest developments in IP law, see Ideate blog and IP Questions Answered blog.