Claimants, primarily companies, won about 71 percent of trade secret cases, and a majority of the defendants are former employees, according to new research from legal analytics research company Lex Machina. In-house counsel retaining top law firms in trade secret cases include firms that specialize in labour and employment law, as many trade secret cases involve former employees. The data reveals that the Central District of California sees the most trade secret cases (7%), followed by the Southern District of New York (5%) and the District of Illinois (5%). More than 1,350 cases with DTSA claims have been filed during the two years since it was enacted on May 11, 2016; only 11 of the 550+ currently active Article III district judges have evaluated DTSA claims on contested motions or presided over the issue at trial

New module
The data comes as Lex Machina launches its legal analytics module for trade secret litigation, the platform’s tenth expansion. The module provides data-driven insights and transparency into the complex world of trade secret litigation. The new module covers over 9,600 cases involving trade secret litigation pending in federal court since 2009, including those filed under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) of 2016. Karl Harris, President and COO at Lex Machina, said ‘trade secret analytics has been among the most requested additions to Lex Machina’s platform because, until now, finding and analyzing specific cases involving trade secret litigation has been extremely difficult, costly and time consuming.’