Trade secret litigation is on the rise. In the last two years, the number of filings have grown more than 30 percent. The stakes in these matters are becoming increasingly high as well—with awards reaching into the hundreds of millions for some civil cases. Investigators are facing new challenges that make the task of gathering evidence and remediating lost IP ever more difficult.
When trade secret theft is suspected or a suit is filed, the investigations that commence are complex, expensive, and intense. They involve collection of data from numerous physical and digital sources, across multiple geographies, and for potentially dozens of custodians. In addition to searching for evidence of trade secret theft or malicious behavior, investigators must then also locate every place to which stolen trade secret information has been copied or shared, and remove it from those unauthorized stores. When you layer in the potential for data privacy concerns, the complexity is even more evident.
