United States: Trade Secrets

After securing funding, companies without in-house IP counsel face a critical 90-day window to protect their intellectual property assets. What systematic steps should growth-stage companies take to ensure they own what they sold to investors, protect their funded roadmap, and establish sustainable IP management practices before the next financing round?

You are invited to listen to Episode 96 of Greenberg Traurig’s Trade Secret Law Evolution Podcast, “Lessons from the Kisaco Research IP Litigation North America 2026 Summit.”

Businesses often assume if customer names are publicly visible on LinkedIn or industry directories, those client relationships cannot be legally protected. However, a major ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington turns that assumption on its head.

California's aggressive stance against non-compete agreements has forced employers to pivot from restricting employee mobility to protecting trade secrets through litigation. The high-stakes legal battle between Apple and OpenAI exemplifies how tech companies now weaponize trade secret claims when they cannot prevent talent from joining competitors, creating new legal risks for businesses nationwide.

A comprehensive analysis of employee mobility trends reveals that 92% of employers experienced departures to competitors in the past year, with more than half reporting restrictive covenant or confidential information violations. The data explores how organizations are responding to these challenges, from cease-and-desist letters to full litigation, and what proactive measures can help prevent costly team lift-outs.

A King County Superior Court's injunctive relief ruling in a youth baseball business dispute has temporarily shut down Top Tier Sports' operations in Washington State through July 2027. The court found the defendants liable for breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, and other claims after former employees of Elysian One launched a competing league. This case demonstrates the far-reaching consequences of violating non-compete and non-solicitation agreements, with implications extending beyond

Remote work and digital file transfers have made it easier than ever for employees to walk out with your most valuable business information. With non-compete agreements declining and jury verdicts in trade secret cases reaching hundreds of millions of dollars, North Carolina businesses face urgent questions about protecting proprietary information in the modern workplace. What qualifies as a trade secret under federal and state law, and how can companies safeguard their competitive advantage when traditiona

Intellectual property due diligence often gets relegated to a final checklist item in acquisitions, but this approach can lead to costly oversights. Jason Balich explores why IP assessment should receive the same early, strategic attention as financial analysis, and provides a framework for evaluating whether a target company's patents, trademarks, and trade secrets are properly secured and enforceable.

Federal courts are increasingly scrutinizing AI-based patent claims with skepticism, invalidating patents that merely apply machine learning to specific domains without demonstrating genuine technical innovation. Recent decisions like Recentive Analytics v. Fox Corp. and In re Brian McFadden reveal that investors and counsel must now look beyond standard IP diligence to assess whether AI patent portfolios capture protectable technical improvements in model training, architecture