The Virginia Court of Appeals recently issued a consequential trade secrets ruling, reversing a jury’s multi-billion dollar damages award, and finding that the trial court committed several legal errors which improperly led to the largest damages verdict in Virginia’s history. The case, Pegasystems Inc. v. Appian Corp., No. 1399-22-4, involved two companies in the business process management (BPM) industry, each of whom offer platforms that enable third party business customers to build complex software applications using “low-code application development platforms.” Continue Reading Virginia Court of Appeals Reverses Record $2 Billion Verdict, Emphasizing Damages Resulting from Misappropriation Must Actually Be Proved Under Virginia Trade Secrets Law
Trade Secret Misappropriation
Lesson Learned: Man Charged with Insider Trading After Misappropriating Information from Wife’s Work-From-Home Calls
As we previously reported here in March 2020, the implementation of remote work policies heightens the risk of misappropriation of trade secrets in remote work environments and could require businesses to take additional steps to ensure the security of their trade secrets and confidential information. In the last few years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has charged several individuals with insider trading after they misappropriated material, nonpublic information obtained as a result of their remote work environment.[1] Most recently, a man was charged with insider trading after misappropriating trade secrets he obtained by listening to his wife’s[2] business calls while the two worked from home. Continue Reading Lesson Learned: Man Charged with Insider Trading After Misappropriating Information from Wife’s Work-From-Home Calls