“Protecting Your Trade Secrets: What Can Be Kept Private and What’s Public”

– The case of loanDepot.com, LLC v. CrossCountry Mortg., LLC, No. 22 CIV. 5971 (LGS), 2023 WL 3884032 (S.D.N.Y. June 8, 2023) dealt with a business protecting its trade secret customer lists.
– The court granted an injunction to restrain Defendant from using information that is publicly available but could replicate Plaintiff’s purportedly “secret” information.
– The decision highlights the importance of protecting trade secrets, even if the information is publicly available, when it has been compiled and assembled in a way that could replicate the original secret information. 1. The Court stated that to prevail on a DTSA claim, the plaintiff must establish that it possessed a trade secret and the defendant misappropriated the trade secret.
2. The Court laid out the statutory definition of “trade secret” and found that the plaintiff had taken reasonable measures to keep the information secret.
3. The Court found that the customer contact information was protected by passwords, restricted access, and encryption, demonstrating sufficient protection.
4. The Court rejected the argument that the customer information was not a trade secret, stating that re-creating the information would take significant time, research, and resources.
5. The Court indicated that the difficulty and cost of re-creating public information might convert it into a trade secret deserving federal protection. – The Court ruled in favor of the Plaintiff
– The Court did not enjoin the solicitation of Plaintiff employees
– Defendant was actively using Plaintiff’s information
– Plaintiff could not show that employee solicitation was currently happening
– Courts do not deal in theoretical possibilities, only actual and imminent harm

Trade Secrets & Information Available in the Public Realm