Recent California Case Highlights Standards for Trade Secret Misappropriation Cases

On June 7, in FormFactor, Inc. v. Micro-Probe, Inc., et al., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied plaintiff FormFactor’s motion for summary judgment that a former employee had misappropriated trade secrets when he left to work for competitor Micro-Probe, and granted Micro-Probe’s crossmotion for summary judgment.

The case provides a useful overview of the evidence needed to support a violation of the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (CUTSA), Cal Civ. Code § 3426.1 et seq, as well as an informative discussion of whether FormFactor could sustain any other civil common law claims based on the alleged misuse of FormFactor’s confidential information.

Read our recent GT Alert for additional insights regarding this important decision.