New Strategies Emerge to Strengthen Trade Secret Protections in Court
Recent analyses highlight new legal strategies to fortify trade secret protections in litigation.
Why it matters: Trade secrets are vital intellectual property for tech firms and corporate legal teams. Understanding emerging frameworks helps protect these assets and manage litigation risks effectively.
- Trade secrets must be defined with specificity for courts to evaluate their protection, per federal appellate courts.
- The 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) created a federal cause of action, spurring a rise in trade secret litigation.
- Reasonable measures such as NDAs, confidentiality markings, and access controls are key to protecting trade secrets.
- More than 9,500 DTSA-related cases were filed in federal courts from 2016 to 2025, with a peak of over 1,500 filings in 2025.
Trade secrets represent critical assets, especially in data-driven and software industries where proprietary innovation drives business operations. They are protected under both state laws, including the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA), and federal law via the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), which was enacted in 2016. The DTSA allows owners to sue in federal court when the trade secret relates to goods or services involved in interstate or foreign commerce (LegalClarity).
To qualify as a trade secret, information must confer economic value by not being generally known and must be subject to reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy. Reasonable protective measures include marking confidential information, restricting access physically and technologically, and using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with employees and partners (WIPO).
Federal appellate courts increasingly require that trade secrets be identified clearly and with specificity—not broad or generalized categories—to enable courts to assess their eligibility for protection (Faegre Drinker).
The enactment of the DTSA led to a surge in trade secret case filings, rising over 30% in 2017 alone. Between 2016 and 2025, federal courts saw more than 9,500 cases involving DTSA claims, climaxing with over 1,500 filings in 2025—the highest recorded (Goodwin Law).
Trade secret litigation often necessitates swift legal action, including motions for temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions, to prevent further unauthorized use or disclosure of protected information (LegalClarity).
Law firms specializing in IP note the critical role of timely responses and clear legal frameworks in safeguarding trade secrets from misappropriation (Fenwick & West LLP; Sidley Austin LLP).
By the numbers:
- 9,500+ trade secret cases with DTSA claims — filed in federal courts from 2016 to 2025
- 30% rise in trade secret litigation filings — observed in 2017, the first full year after DTSA enactment
- 1,500+ trade secret complaints — filed in federal courts in 2025, highest on record