Chancery Holds That Delaware Uniform Trade Secrets Act Preempts Unjust Enrichment Claim - Intellectual Property mondaq.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mondaq.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Global competition in high-tech industries is as intense as ever, and U.S. administrative agencies continue to find themselves at the center of global disputes between foreign companies seeking to vindicate trade secret and intellectual property rights. That outlook was confirmed this month in a highly-anticipated ruling by the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) in a trade secret dispute between two South Korean manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries.
On February 10, 2021, the ITC issued its final determination (Inv. No. 337-TA-1159) affirming an administrative law judge’s (“ALJ”) initial determination that the South Korean company SK Innovation had violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 by misappropriating trade secret information regarding electric vehicle batteries from LG Chem, Ltd., also from South Korea. The ALJ had entered a default judgment against SK Innovation on February 14, 2020, f
The ITC issued its final determination affirming an ALJ’s initial determination that the South Korean company SK Innovation had violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 by misappropriating trade secret information regarding electric vehicle batteries from LG Chem, Ltd.
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Consistent with many jurisdictions which have adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Delaware’s version expressly preempts common law claims based on the misappropriation of trade secrets.
See 6 Del. C. § 2007. In a recent opinion, Vice Chancellor Slights of the Court of Chancery dismissed a claim for unjust enrichment based on defendant’s alleged misappropriation and use of plaintiff’s confidential and proprietary data because Delaware’s trade secret statute “occupies the filed” and preempts claims for common law unjust enrichment.
This recent case involved a proprietary sensor network created by plaintiff, 250ok. This technology helps email marketers avoid spam traps designed to block their email marketing efforts. 250ok entered into a “Reseller Agreement” with defendant SparkPost to market and sell 250ok’s product with SparkPost’s own products and services. Approximately 4 years later, SparkPost