Peter Altieri, a Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Labor and Employment practices, in the New York office, and David Clark, a Senior Counsel in the Litigation practice, in the New York office, cowrote an article titled "The (Trade) Secret Playbook."
Following is an excerpt:
A decision issued earlier this year, MSCI, Inc. v. Jacob, 36 Misc. 3d 211, 945 N.Y.S.2d 863 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County 2012), provides insight to factors that should be considered by litigators and their clients in lawsuits involving allegations of trade secret misappropriation. For plaintiffs, such considerations include the need to allege the elements of a trade secrets claim without actually giving away those trade secrets (while being specific enough to survive a motion to dismiss or, possibly, to secure injunctive relief), and the increasingly common mandate that plaintiffs must specify the nature of the trade secrets with particularity before a court will authorize discovery. For defendants, the considerations include putting the onus on plaintiffs to state their claims with specificity and avoiding intrusive and potentially harmful discovery by a competitor.
