Trade secrets often reflect years of work, investment and business knowledge, so suspected misuse can leave you unsure how much control you still have. If a former employee or competitor appears to have taken or used that information without permission, it helps to understand what your business can do next.
Contain the exposure quickly
One place to start is by securing the systems involved and limiting any additional disclosure. At the same time, keeping a reliable account of what happened helps avoid losing important details as accounts, permissions or files change. Possible steps include:
- Restricting access to the affected files, accounts and devices
- Retaining emails, login records and system logs tied to the incident
- Documenting who viewed, copied or shared the material and when
You may also want to avoid erasing or modifying stored data before legal counsel reviews the evidence and explains how to handle it. Once litigation is reasonably anticipated, however, your business must preserve relevant material. Losing it after inadequate safeguards can weaken the claim and, in some circumstances, lead to court-ordered corrective measures or sanctions.
Request a court injunction
Internal safeguards do not remove the risk when someone else still possesses the information. If the threat of continued use or disclosure is immediate, your business may seek a temporary restraining order while the court considers the case.
The Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act authorizes injunctions against actual or threatened misappropriation, so you do not have to wait for misuse to occur before seeking relief. This option is especially relevant when money alone would not adequately address the loss of secrecy, since information that becomes generally known can lose trade secret protection.
Pursue damages for proven misappropriation
Recovering damages begins with proving that the information meets the legal definition of a trade secret. Its secrecy must provide actual or potential economic value, and your business must have taken reasonable measures to protect it.
You must also prove misappropriation. That generally means the other party obtained the information through theft, deception or a breach of a duty to keep it confidential. It also covers unauthorized use or disclosure when the person knew or had reason to know that the material came from an improper source.
If the claim succeeds, your business may recover its losses and any unjust enrichment not already included in that amount. When those figures are difficult to calculate, the court may use a reasonable royalty instead. Willful and malicious misappropriation can also support an award of exemplary damages.