California Federal District Court Issues Decision On Reasonable Secrecy Measures, Trade Secret Identification, and Preemption

A recent California federal district court decision in FormFactor, Inc. v. Micro-Probe, Inc., Case No. C 10-3095 PJH highlights the importance of companies proactively taking measures to protect their trade secrets before litigation arises and specifically identifying trade secrets that have allegedly been misappropriated.

FormFactor, a company which designs, manufactures, sells and supports high-performance advanced wafer probe card assemblies, alleged that a competitor, Micro-Probe, Inc., had been hiring FormFactor personnel for the express purpose of having them disclose FormFactor confidential technical and marketing information. FormFactor filed suit alleging, patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, breach confidence, unfair competition, and civil conspiracy. FormFactor also sued the former VP of its DRAM Business, Mr. Browne, who joined Micro-Probe and was alleged to have misappropriated FormFactor trade secrets.

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