Faster Trade Secrets Enforcement

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Swagway v. ITC and Segway (Fed. Cir. 2019) is a very handy case for trade secrets, copyrights or trademarks owners seeking to enforce their rights more quickly.

The second highest appellate court for IP cases recently held that orders issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) on non-patent law issues have preclusive effect.

This has enormous practical effect for non-patent IP owners. To effectuate a speedier enforcement process against infringers, non-patent IP owners (like copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets) should consider filing a complaint at the ITC for infringement to seek an exclusion order. If this order is issued, then infringers are precluded from re-arguing the non-patent law issue in the courts. Non-patent owners would then be able to collect damages by filing a complaint with the federal courts on the basis of such order.