Here at the Law Office of Vincent Miletti, Esq. and the home of the #UnusuallyMotivated movement, we take pride as a resilient and dependable legal services firm, providing such services in both a traditional and online, web-based environment. With mastered specialization in areas such as Employment and Labor Law, Intellectual Property (IP) (trademark, copyright, patent), Entertainment Law, and e-Commerce (Supply Chain, Distribution, Fulfillment, Standard Legal & Regulatory), we provide a range of legal services including, but not limited to traditional legal representation (litigation, mediation, arbitration, opinion letters and advisory), non-litigated business legal representation and legal counsel, and unique, online legal services such as smart forms, mobile training, and legal marketing & development.

Still, here at Miletti Law®, we feel obligated to enlighten, educate, and create awareness about how these issues and many others affect our unusually motivated® readers and/or their businesses. Accordingly, to achieve this goal, we have committed ourselves to creating authoritative, trustworthy, and distinctive content that looks to educate and deliver in a manner that only Miletti Law® can. Usually, this content is featured as videos posted on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtvUryqkkMAJLwrLu2BBt6w and blogs that are published on our website WWW.MILETTILAW.COM. With the ball in your court, yours is an effortless obligation to subscribe to the channel and sign up for the Newsletter on the website, which encompasses the best way to ensure that you stay in the loop and benefit from the knowledge bombs we drop here!

As the authoritative force in Employment Law, we are committed to providing you with authoritative, up-to-date, and trustworthy content through which you can draw enlightening information to stay ahead of the game in your business. In this regard, this blog is Part IX of our multipart series on the “Enforcement of the Protection of Employers’ Confidential Information & Trade Secrets.” In Part VIII of this series, we hammered on “Trade Secret Misappropriation Claims under State & Common Law,” where we provided you with key information on what every employer needs to consider and factor in before bringing a trade secret misappropriation or confidential information theft/loss claim in a court under both state and common law. At this point, we now switch gears and focus on “Preliminary Trade Secret Misappropriation Injunctions in State Courts” in this blog and Part IX of the series.

Seeking Preliminary Injunctions on Trade Secret Misappropriation in State Courts

In order to ensure that trade secrets are not disclosed and/or used during the pendency of the litigation, it is crucial for an employer to make an immediate request for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunctive relief as a way of managing the risk of trade secret misappropriation or confidential information theft/loss. Technically speaking, the progress and movement of a lawsuit are significantly changed by whether the employer wins or loses at the injunctive relief stage.

As we mentioned in the last blog, the standard and criteria used by a court to grant temporary restraining order or preliminary injunctive relief request vary from state to state. However, irrespective of such variations, a plaintiff is required, at a bare minimum, to demonstrate a number of things and convince a court that they need a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunctive relief. The plaintiff requires showing that:

  • If the temporary restraining order or preliminary injunctive relief is not granted, the plaintiff will suffer irreparable damage.
  • There is a high possibility of succeeding based on the claim’s merits.

Additionally, the law requires a plaintiff to show that:

  • There is a public interest being advanced by the injunctive relief-
  • The plaintiff is favored by the balance of equities.

After meeting the above criterion, the employer can proceed and provide the court with critical forensic evidence showing proof of trade secret misappropriation and/or confidential information theft/loss by the former employer. Given that they have provided such evidence at this preliminary stage, the employer has a shot at having the court grant either the temporary restraining order or preliminary injunctive relief, which would be critical since it would prevent the former employee from disclosing and/or revealing the information or trade secret to a new employer or other interested parties.

In Part X of this series, we will move the discussion forward by hammering on “Other State Court Issues on Trade Secret Misappropriation Claims.”

As usual, while you should strive to be #UnusuallyMotivated, stay tuned for more education, training, and legal guidance. In the interim, reach out to us with questions and/or comments on our website at the Contact Us page!

Always rising above the bar,

Isaac T.,

Legal Writer & Author.