Trade-Secret Cases Abound in California

by Rachel Glas

The Top 5 U.S. trade-secret litigation
1	California	16%
2	Texas	11%
3	Ohio	10%
4	New York	6%
5	Georga	6%
Source: A Statistical Analysis of Trade Secret Litigation in State Courts,?46 Gonz. L. Rev. 57 (2011)

California leads the country in trade-secret litigation, according to a new statistical analysis published in the Gonzaga Law Review. The study, conducted by O'Melveny & Myers attorneys, examined 358 state appellate court decisions issued over the course of 14 years and determined that about half of all trade-secret litigation was concentrated in just five states.

California clocked in at the top, with more trade-secret cases than any other state--in part because it's the nation's most populous.

When it came to difficult-to-prove cases involving allegations of pilfered customer lists, more than two-thirds were filed here, the researchers say.

Trade-secret litigation is a growing area of law, especially in federal courts, where the number of cases has nearly doubled each decade since the 1950s. Researchers note that this form of intellectual property theft--which costs companies an estimated $300 billion each year--tends to originate close to home: In more than 90 percent of the cases studied, the accused misappropriator was either an employee or a business partner.

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