On Jan. 8, 2026, the Supreme Court of Virginia upheld a decision to overturn a $2 billion jury verdict in the Appian v. Pegasystems trade secrets dispute, where a unanimous jury found that Pega violated the Virginia Computer Crimes Act and misappropriated Appian’s trade secrets.
Continue Reading Virginia Supreme Court Orders New Trial in $2 Billion Trade Secrets Case
This blog post discusses key trends in trade secrets for 2025, including increased scrutiny of large damage awards, potential changes to noncompete enforceability, a high success rate for plaintiffs in trade secret trials, the impact of AI on trade secret protection, and the availability of foreign damages for misappropriation under the DTSA.
On Sept. 26, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled California’s statutory ban of noncompete agreements does not override Massachusetts law permitting noncompete agreements where the subject employee never worked in California.
On July 30, the Court of Appeals of Virginia reversed Appian Corp.’s $2 billion trade secrets judgment against competitor Pegasystems Inc. (Pega) and remanded the case for a new trial. The judgment was the largest jury award in Virginia history.
Greenberg Traurig’s Kurt A. Kappes, Galit Kierkut, and Ewen Mitchell were interviewed for a Q&A on trade secret disputes in Financier Worldwide magazine. Among other things, they discuss key trends, what steps companies may take to protect and enforce their trade secrets, and the evolution of trade secret disputes moving forward.
We are proud to present Greenberg Traurig’s Trade Secrets 2023 Year in Review, a high-level overview of some of 2023’s most significant trade secret decisions in the United States.
2023 started with a bang, when the Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule banning noncompete agreements between employers and “workers” (broadly defined to include employees, independent
On May 30, 2023, the General Counsel (GC) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) took a step toward the federal regulation of employee noncompetition agreements. The GC published a memorandum (the Memo) in which she expressed her opinion that “the proffer, maintenance, and enforcement of such agreements violate Section 8(a)(1)” of the National Labor
California generally takes an unfavorable view of noncompete provisions, treating them as unenforceable in all but a few limited circumstances, as those familiar with California employment law know. See, e.g., Business and Professions Code 16600 and Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP (2008) 44 Cal.4th 937.
Now, if recently introduced legislation finds support, those exceptions may
We are proud to present Greenberg Traurig’s Trade Secrets 2022 Year in Review, a high-level overview of some of 2022’s most significant trade secret decisions in the United States. 2022 was another active year in trade secret litigation, and the decisions summarized here touch on the most important issues in trade secret litigation.